, ’ ,  , W  • ' «  ♦  • ! ifthfclM*** • . -.-**4-^  >% fW*«t OMh n  K  -V , .• .. -  *•>  •*.  f. 


UNIVERSITY  OF 

ILLINOIS  LIBRARY 

UR3ANA-CHAMPAJGM 


The  Christian’s  Secret 


Of  a  Happy  Lite 


\ 

BY 

Hannah  W  hi  tall  Smith 


Author  of  “ Everyday  Religion uOpen  Secret u Child 
Culture £Zc. 


NEW  AND  ENLARGED  EDITION 


Curts  &  Jennings 

Cincinnati  :  Chicago  :  St.  Louis 


Copyright ,  iSSj  and  fSSS, 

By  Fleming  H.  Revell. 


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PREFACE. 


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WHAT  I  have  to  tell  in  this  little  book  is  no 
new  story.  The  early  Church  taught  it  in 
the  days  of  the  Apostles,  and  from  those  days,  down 
to  the  present  time,  there  have  been  found  in  every 
age  some  whose  voices  and  whose  lives  have  pro¬ 
claimed  it. 

Many  times  it  has  been  lost  sight  of,  and  the 
Church  has  seemed  to  fall  into  almost  hopeless 
darkness  and  lifelessness.  But  the  ‘'secret”  has 
always  been  preserved  by  an  apostolic  succession 
of  those  who  have  walked  and  talked  with  God. 

In  the  present  day  the  truth  concerning  it  has 
been  afresh  revived,  and  my  little  book  is  an  effort 
to  tell  it  again  in  a  way  that  will  be  simple  enough 
for  all  to  understand.  Too  often  the  language  of 
religion,  like  the  oft  repeated  chimes  of  a  bell,  seems 
to  lose  its  power  to  attract  attention;  and  it  may 
be  that  even  a  bell  of  inferior  tone  shall  be  able  to 
break  the  careless  inattention  of  some  souls. 


PREFACE. 


vi 


I  have  not  tried,  therefore,  to  make  my  book 
theological.  I  could  not  if  I  would.  I  have  simply 

sought  to  tell  the  blessed  story,  so  old  and  yet  so 
new,  in  the  homely  and  familiar  words  of  every¬ 
day  life. 

I  do  not  want  to  change  the  theological  views  of 
a  single  individual.  The  truths  I  have  to  tell  are 
not  theological,  but  practical.  They  are,  I  believe, 
the  fundamental  truths  of  life  and  experience,  the 
truths  that  underlie  all  theologies,  and  that  are  in 
fact  their  real  and  vital  meaning.  They  will  fit  in 
with  every  creed,  simply  making  it  possible  for  those 
who  hold  the  creed  to  live  up  to  their  own  beliefs, 
and  to  find  in  them  the  experimental  realities  of  a 

present  Saviour  and  a  present  salvation. 

Most  of  us  acknowledge  that  there  is  behind  all 
religions  an  absolute  religion,  that  holds  the  vital 
truth  of  each;  and  it  is  of  this  absolute  religion 
my  book  seeks  to  treat. 

No  doubt  it  is  very  imperfectly  done,  but  I  can 
only  trust  that  all  its  mistakes  may  be  counteracted, 
and  only  that  which  is  true  may  find  entrance  into 
any  heart.  The  book  is  sent  out  in  tender  sympa¬ 
thy  and  yearning  love  for  all  struggling,  weary 
souls,  of  whatever  creed  or  name;  and  its  message 
goes  right  from  my  heart  to  theirs.  I  have  given 
the  best  I  have,  and  can  do  no  more. 


PREFACE. 


Vll 


This  new  and  revised  issue  goes  forth  on  its  mis¬ 
sion,  with  the  prayer  that  the  Lord  may  continue 
to  use  it  as  a  voice  to  teach  some,  who  sorely  need 
it,  the  true  “secret  of  a  happy  life.” 


Philadelphia,  January ,  1888. 


H.  W.  S. 


CONTENTS. 


part  t. 

THE  LIFE. 

Chapter  Page 

T.  Is  It  Scriptural?  .  15 

II.  God’s  Side  and  Man’s  Side . 26 

III.  The  Life  Defined  ........  37 

IY.  How  to  Enter  in  . 46 

©art  it* 

DIFFICULTIES. 

V.  Difficulties  concerning  Consecration.  59 

VI.  Difficulties  concerning  Faith  ...  69 

VII.  Difficulties  concerning  the  Will  .  .  79 

VIII.  Difficulties  concerning  Guidance  .  .  90 

IX.  Difficulties  concerning  Doubts  .  .  .  105 
X.  Difficulties  concerning  Temptation  .  118 
XI.  Difficulties  concerning  Failures  .  .  128 
XII.  Is  God  in  Everything  ? . 144 


CONTENTS. 


x 


©art  UL 

RESULTS. 


Chapter 


XIII.  Bondage  or  Liberty  . 

XIV.  Growth  .  . 

XV.  Service . 

XVI.  Practical  Results  in  Daily  Li 
XVII.  The  Joy  of  Obedience. 

XVIII.  Divine  Union . 

XIX.  The  Chariots  of  God 
XX.  The  Life  on  Wings . 


Page 

•  157 
.  171 
.  186 

<-ev  199 
.  210 
.  219 
.  229 
.  238 


THF  CRY  OF  SAINT  PAXIL, 


Brethren,  my  heart’s  desire  and  prayer  to  God  for  Israel  is,  that 
they  might  be  saved. — Romans  x.  1. 

Oh,  could  I  tell,  ye  surely  would  believe  it  I 
Oh,  could  I  only  say  what  I  have  seen ! 

How  should  I  telly  or  how  can  ye  receive  it, 

How,  till  He  bnngeth  you  where  I  have  been? 

Therefore,  O  Lord,  I  will  not  fail  nor  falter; 

Nay  but  I  ask  it,  nay  but  I  desire, 

Lay  on  my  lips  thine  embers  of  the  altar, 

Seal  with  the  ring,  and  furnish  with  the  fire. 

Give  me  a  voice,  a  cry,  and  a  complaining, — 

Oh,  let  my  sound  be  stormy  in  their  ears ! 

Throat  that  would  shout,  but  cannot  stay  for  straining1. 
Eyes  that  would  weep,  but  cannot  wait  for  tears. 

Quick,  in  a  moment,  infinite  forever, 

Send  an  arousal  better  than  I  pray ; 

Give  me  a  grace  upon  the  faint  endeavor, 

Souls  for  my  hire,  and  Pentecost  to-day! 

Scarcely  I  catch  the  words  of  His  revealing, 

Hardly  I  hear  Him,  dimly  understand  ; 

Only  the  Power  that  is  within  me  pealing 
Lives  on  my  lips,  and  beckons  with  my  hand. 

Whoso  has  felt  the  Spirit  of  the  Highest, 

Cannot  confound,  nor  doubt  Him,  nor  deny  ; 

Yea,  with  one  voice,  O  world,  though  thou  deniest, 

Stand  thou  on  that  side,  for  on  this  am  I. 


F.  W.  H.  Myers. 


Part  I. 

The  Life, 


The  Christian’s  Secret 

OF  A 


HAPPY  LIFE. 

- O - 

CHAPTER  I. 

IS  IT  SCRIPTURAL? 

NO  thoughtful  person  can  question  the  fact  that,  for 
the  most  part,  the  Christian  life,  as  it  is  generally 
lived,  is  not  entirety  a  happy  life.  A  keen  observer 
once  said  to  me,  “You  Christians  seem  to  have  a  re¬ 
ligion  that  makes  you  miserable.  You  are  like  a  man 
with  a  headache.  He  does  not  want  to  get  rid  of  his 
head,  but  it  hurts  him  to  keep  it.  You  cannot  expect 
outsiders  to  seek  verj’  earnestly  for  anything  so  un¬ 
comfortable.”  Then  for  the  first  time  I  saw,  as  in  a 
flash,  that  the  religion  of  Christ  ought  to  be,  and  was 
meant  to  be,  to  its  possessors,  not  something  to  make 
them  miserable,  but  something  to  make  them  happy; 
and  I  began  then  and  there  to  ask  the  Lord  to  show 
me  the  secret  of  a  happy  Christian  life. 

It  is  this  secret,  so  far  as  I  have  learned  it,  that  I 
shall  try  to  tell  in  the  following  pages. 

All  of  God’s  children,  I  am  convinced,  feel  instinc¬ 
tively,  in  their  moments  of  divine  illumination,  that 


16 


SECRET  OF  A  HAPPY  LIFE. 


a  life  of  inward  rest  and  outward  victory  is  their  in¬ 
alienable  birthright.  Can  you  not  remember,  some  of 
you,  the  shout  of  triumph  your  souls  gave  when  you 
first  became  acquainted  with  the  Lord  Jesus,  and  had 
a  glimpse  of  His  mighty  saving  power?  How  sure 
you  were  of  victory,  then!  How  easy  it  seemed  to  be 
more  than  conquerors,  through  Him  that  loved  you! 
Under  the  leadership  of  a  Captain,  who  had  never 
been  foiled  in  battle,  how  could  you  dream  of  defeat! 
And  yet,  to  many  of  you,  how  different  has  been  your 
real  experience!  Your  victories  have  been  few  and 
fleeting,  your  defeats  many  and  disastrous.  You 
have  not  lived  as  you  feel  children  of  God  ought  to 
live.  You  have  had  perhaps  a  clear  understanding  of 
doctrinal  truths,  but  you  have  not  come  into  posses¬ 
sion  of  their  life  and  power.  You  have  rejoiced  in 
your  knowledge  of  '*Le  things  revealed  in  the  Scrip¬ 
tures,  but  have  not  had  a  living  realization  of  the 
things  themselves,  consciously  felt  in  the  soul.  Christ 
is  believed  in,  talked  about,  and  served,  but  He  is  not 
known  as  the  soul’s  actual  and  very  life,  abiding  there 
forever,  and  revealing  Himself  there  continually  in 
His  beauty.  You  have  found  Jesus  as  your  Saviour 
from  the  penalty  of  sin,  but  you  have  not  found  Him 
as  your  Saviour  from  its  power.  You  have  carefully 
studied  the  Holy  Scriptures,  and  have  gathered  much 
precious  truth  therefrom,  which  you  have  trusted 
would  feed  and  nourish  your  spiritual  life,  but  in 
spite  of  it  all,  your  souls  are  starving  and  dying  within 
you,  and  you  cry  out  in  secret,  again  and  again,  for 
that  bread  and  water  of  life  which  you  see  promised  in 
the  Scriptures  to  all  believers.  In  the  very  depths  of 
your  hearts,  you  know  that  your  experience  is  not  a 


IS  IT  SCRIPTURAL ? 


17 


Scriptural  experience;  that,  as  an  old  writer  said,  your 
religion  is  “  but  a  talk  to  what  the  early  Christians  en¬ 
joyed,  possessed,  and  lived  in.”  And  your  hearts  have 
sunk  within  you,  as,  day  after  day,  and  year  after  year, 
your  early  visions  of  triumph  have  seemed  to  grow 
more  and  more  dim,  and  you  have  been  forced  to  set¬ 
tle  down  to  the  conviction,  that  the  best  you  can  ex¬ 
pect  from  your  religion  is  a  life  of  alternate  failure 
and  victory,  one  hour  sinning,  and  the  next  repent¬ 
ing,  and  then  beginning  again,  only  to  fail  again,  and 
again  to  repent. 

But  is  this  all?  Had  the  Lord  Jesus  only  this  in 
His  mind  when  He  laid  down  His  precious  life  to 
deliver  you  from  your  sore  and  cruel  bondage  to 
sin?  Did  He  propose  to  Himself  only  this  partial 
deliverance  ?  Did  He  intend  to  leave  you  thus  strug¬ 
gling  under  a  weary  consciousness  of  defeat  and  dis¬ 
couragement  ?  Did  He  fear  that  a  continuous  victory 
would  dishonor  Him,  and  bring  reproach  on  His 
name?  When  all  those  declarations  were  made  con¬ 
cerning  His  coming,  and  the  work  He  was  to  ac¬ 
complish,  did  they  mean  only  this  that  you  have 
experienced  ?  Was  there  a  hidden  reserve  in  each 
promise,  that  was  meant  to  deprive  it  of  its  complete 
fulfilment?  Did  ‘‘delivering  us  out  of  the  hand  of  • 
our  enemies”  mean  that  they  should  still  have  domin¬ 
ion  over  us?  Did  ‘‘enabling  us  always  to  triumph” 
mean  that  we  were  only  to  triumph  sometimes?  Did 
being  made ‘‘more  than  conquerors  through  Him  that 
loved  us”  mean  constant  defeat  and  failure?  Does 
being  “  saved  to  the  uttermost  ”  mean  the  meager  sal¬ 
vation  we  see  manifested  among  us  now?  Can  we 
dream  that  the  Savior,  who  was  wounded  for  our 


18 


SECRET  OF  A  HAPPY  LIFE . 


transgressions  and  bruised  for  our  iniquities,  could 
possibly  see  of  the  travail  of  His  soul  and  be  satisfied 
in  such  Christian  lives  as  fill  the  Church  to-day  ?  The 
Bible  tells  us  that  “for  this  purpose  the  Son  of  God 
was  manifested,  that  He  might  destroy  the  works  of 
the  devil;”  and  can  we  imagine  for  a  moment  that 
this  is  beyond  His  power,  and  that  He  finds  Himself 
unable  to  accomplish  the  thing  He  was  manifested  to 
do  ? 

In  the  very  outset,  then,  settle  down  on  this  one 
thing,  that  Jesus  came  to  save  you,  now,  in  this  life, 
from  the  power  and  dominion  of  sin,  and  to  make  you 
more  than  conquerors  through  His  power.  If  you 
doubt  this,  search  your  Bible,  and  collect  together 
every  announcement  or  declaration  concerning  the 
purposes  and  object  of  His  death  on  the  cross.  You 
will  be  astonished  to  find  how  full  they  are.  Every¬ 
where  and  always,  His  work  is  said  to  be  to  deliver 
us  from  our  sins,  from  our  bondage,  from  our  defile¬ 
ment  ;  and  not  a  hint  is  given,  anywhere,  that  this  de¬ 
liverance  was  to  be  only  the  limited  and  partial  one 
with  which  Christians  so  continually  try  to  be  satisfied. 

Let  me  give  you  the  teaching  of  Scripture  on  this 
subject.  When  the  angel  of  the  Lord  appeared  unto 
Joseph  in  a  dream,  and  announced  the  coming  birth  of 
the  Saviour,  he  said,  “And  thou  shalt  call  his  name 
Jesus,  for  He  shall  save  His  people  from  their  sins.” 

When  Zacliarias  was  “filled  with  the  Holy  Ghost” 
at  the  birth  of  his  son,  and  “prophesied,”  he  declared 
that  God  had  visited  his  people  in  order  to  fulfil  the 
promise  and  the  oath  He  had  made  them ;  which  prom¬ 
ise  was,  “that  He  would  grant  unto  us,  that  we,  be¬ 
ing  delivered  out  of  the  hand  of  our  enemies,  might 


IS  IT  SCRIPTURAL? 


19 


serve  Him  without  fear,  in  holiness  and  righteousness 
before  Him,  all  the  dayrs  of  our  life.” 

When  Peter  was  preaching  in  the  porch  of  the 
temple  to  the  wondering  Jews,  he  said,  “Unto  you 
first,  God,  having  raised  up  His  Son  Jesus,  sent  Him 
to  bless  you  in  turning  away  every  one  of  you  from 
his  iniquities.” 

When  Paul  was  telling  to  the  Ephesian  Church  the 
wondrous  truth,  that  Christ  had  so  loved  them  as  to 
give  Himself  for  them,  he  went  on  to  declare  that  His 
purpose  in  thus  doing  was,  “that  He  might  sanctify 
and  cleanse  it  by  the  washing  of  water  by  the  word, 
that  He  might  present  it  to  Himself  a  glorious  church, 
not  having  spot  or  wrinkle,  or  any  such  thing ;  but  that 
it  should  be  holy  and  without  blemish.” 

When  Paul  was  seeking  to  instruct  Titus,  his  own 
son  after  the  common  faith,  concerning  the  grace  of 
God,  he  declared  that  the  object  of  that  grace  was  to 
teach  us  “  that,  denying  ungodliness  and  worldly  lusts, 
we  should  live  soberly,  righteously,  and  godly  in  this 
present  world  ;  ”  and  adds,  as  the  reason  of  this,  that 
Christ  “gave  Himself  for  us  that  he  might  redeem  us 
from  all  iniquity,  and  purify^  us  unto  Himself  a  peculiar 
people,  zealous  of  good  works.” 

When  Peter  was  urging  upon  the  Christians,  to 
whom  he  was  writing,  a  holy  and  Clirist-like  walk,  he 
tells  them  that  “even  hereunto  were  ye  called:  because 
Christ  also  suffered  for  us,  leaving  us  an  example  that 
ye  should  follow  His  steps:  who  did  no  sin,  neither 
was  guile  found  in  His  mouth ;  ”  and  adds,  “  Who  His 
own  self  bare  our  sins  in  His  own  body  on  the  tree, 
that  we,  being  dead  to  sins,  should  live  unto  righteous¬ 
ness:  by  whose  stripes  ye  were  healed.” 


20 


SECRET  OP  A  HAPPY  LITE. 


When  Paul  was  contrasting  in  the  Ephesians,  the 
walk  suitable  for  a  Christian,  with  the  walk  of  an  un¬ 
believer,  he  sets  before  them  the  truth  in  Jesus  as 
being  this,  “  that  ye  put  off  concerning  the  former 
conversation  the  old  man,  which  is  corrupt  according 
to  the  deceitful  lusts;  and  be  renewed  in  the  spirit  of 
your  mind ;  and  that  ye  put  on  the  new  man,  which 
after  God  is  created  in  righteousness  and  true  holiness.” 

And  when,  in  Romans  vi.,  he  was  answering  forever 
the  question  as  to  a  child  of  God  continuing  in  sin, 
and  showing  how  utterly  foreign  it  was  to  the  whole 
spirit  and  aim  of  the  salvation  of  Jesus,  he  brings  up 
the  fact  of  our  judicial  death  and  resurrection  with 
Christ,  as  an  unanswerable  argument  for  our  practical 
deliverance  from  it,  and  says,  “God  forbid.  How 
shall  we, that  are  dead  to  sin,  live  any  longer  therein? 
Know  ye  not,  that  so  many  of  us  as  were  baptized  into 
Jesus  Christ  were  baptized  into  His  death?  There¬ 
fore  we  are  buried  with  Him  by  baptism  into  death : 
that  like  as  Christ  was  raised  up  from  the  dead  by  the 
glory  of  the  Father,  even  so  we  also  should  walk  in 
newness  of  life;  ”  and  adds,  “Knowing  this,  that  our 
old  man  is  crucified  with  Him,  that  the  body  of  sin 
might  be  destroyed,  that  henceforth  we  should  not 
serve  sin.” 

It  is  a  fact  sometimes  overlooked,  that,  in  the  decla¬ 
rations  concerning  the  object  of  the  death  of  Christ, 
far  more  mention  is  made  of  a  present  salvation  from 
sin,  than  of  a  future  salvation  in  a  heaven  beyond, 
showing  plainly  God’s  estimate  of  the  relative  impor¬ 
tance  of  these  two  things. 

Dear  Christians,  will  you  receive  the  testimony  of 
the  Scripture  on  this  matter?  The  same  crucial 


IS  IT  SCRIPTURAL? 


21 


questions,  that  troubled  the  Church  in  Paul’s  day,  are 
troubling  it  now :  first,  “  Shall  we  continue  in  sin  that 
grace  may  abound?”  and  second,  “Do  we  then  make 
void  the  law  through  faith?”  Shall  our  answer  to 
these  be  Paul’s  emphatic  “  God  forbid,”  and  his  tri¬ 
umphant  assertions  that,  instead  of  making  it  void, 
“we  establish  the  law;”  and  that  “what  the  law 
could  not  do,  in  that  it  was  weak  through  the  flesh, 
God  sending  His  own  Son  in  the  likeness  of  sinful 
flesh,  and  for  sin,  condemned  sin  in  the  flesh:  that 
the  righteousness  of  the  law  might  be  fulfilled  in  us. 
who  walk  not  after  the  flesh,  but  after  the  Spirit.” 

Can  we,  for  a  moment,  suppose  that  the  holy  God, 
who  hates  sin  in  the  sinner,  is  willing  to  tolerate  it  in 
the  Christian,  and  that  He  has  even  arranged  the  plan 
of  salvation  in  such  a  way  as  to  make  it  impossible 
for  those  who  are  saved  from  the  guilt  of  sin,  to  find 
deliverance  from  its  power? 

As  Dr.  Chalmers  well  says,  “Sin  is  that  scandal 
which  must  be  rooted  out  from  the  great  spiritual 
household  over  which  the  Divinity  rejoices.  .  .  . 

Strange  administration,  indeed,  for  sin  to  be  so  hate¬ 
ful  to  God  as  to  lay  all  who  had  incurred  it  under 
death,  and  yet,  when  readmitted  into  life,  that  sin 
should  be  permitted ;  and  that  what  was  before  the 
object  of  destroying  vengeance  should  now  become 
the  object  of  an  upheld  and  protected  toleration. 
Now  that  the  penalty  is  taken  off,  think  you  it  is  pos¬ 
sible  that  the  unchangeable  God  has  so  given  up  His 
antipathy  to  sin  as  that  man,  ruined  and  redeemed 
man,  may  now  perseveringly  indulge,  under  the  new 
arrangement,  in  that  which  under  the  old  destroyed 
him?  Does  not  the  God  who  loved  righteousness 


22 


SECRET  OF  A  HAPPY  LIFE. 


and  hated  iniquity  six  thousand  years  ago,  bear  the 
same  love  to  righteousness  and  hatred  to  iniquity 
still?  .  .  .  I  now  breathe  the  air  of  loving-kindness 

from  Heaven,  and  can  walk  before  God  in  peace  and 
graciousness ;  shall  I  again  attempt  the  incompatible 
alliance  of  two  principles  so  adverse  as  that  of  an  ap¬ 
proving  God  and  a  persevering  sinner  ?  How  shall 
we,  recovered  from  so  awful  a  catastrophe,  continue 
that  which  first  involved  us  in  it  ?  The  cross  of  Christ, 
by  the  same  mighty  and  decisive  stroke  wherewith  it 
moved  the  curse  of  sin  away  from  us,  also  surely  moves 
away  the  power  and  the  love  of  it  from  over  us.” 

And  not  Dr.  Chalmers  only,  but  many  other  holy 
men  of  his  generation,  and  of  our  own,  as  well  as  of 
generations  long  past,  have  united  in  declaring  that 
the  redemption  accomplished  for  us  by  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  on  the  cross  at  Calvary,  is  a  redemption  from 
the  power  of  sin  as  well  as  from  its  guilt,  and  that  He 
is  able  to  save  to  the  uttermost  all  who  come  unto  God 
by  Him. 

A  quaint  old  Quaker  divine  of  the  seventeenth 
century  says:  “There  is  nothing  so  contrary  to  God 
as  sin,  and  God  will  not  suffer  sin  always  to  rule  his 
masterpiece,  man.  When  we  consider  the  infiniteness 
of  God’s  power  for  destroying  that  which  is  contrary 
to  Him,  who  can  believe  that  the  devil  must  always 
stand  and  prevail  ?  I  believe  it  is  inconsistent  and  dis¬ 
agreeable  with  true  faith  for  people  to  be  Christians 
and  yet  to  believe  that  Christ,  the  eternal  Son  of  God, 
to  whom  all  power  in  heaven  and  earth  is  given,  will 
suffer  sin  and  the  devil  to  have  dominion  over  them. 

“  But  you  will  say  no  man  by  all  the  power  he  hath 
can  redeem  himself,  and  no  man  can  live  without  sin. 


IS  IT  SCRIPTURAL ? 


23 


We  will  say  Amen  to  it.  But  if  men  tell  us  that  when 
God’s  power  comes  to  help  us  and  to  redeem  us  out  of 
sin,  it  cannot  be  effected,  then  this  doctrine  we  cannot 
away  with ;  nor  I  hope  you  neither. 

“Would  you  approve  of  it  if  I  should  tell  you  that 

God  puts  forth  His  power  to  do  such  a  thing,  but  the 

devil  hinders  Him?  That  it  is  impossible  for  God  to 

do  it,  because  the  devil  does  not  like  it?  That  it  is 

♦ 

impossible  that  any  one  should  be  free  from  sin,  be¬ 
cause  the  devil  hath  got  such  a  power  in  them  that  God 
cannot  cast  him  out?  This  is  lamentable  doctrine, 
yet  hath  not  this  been  preached  ?  It  doth  in  plain 
terms  say,  though  God  doth  interpose  His  power,  it  is 
impossible,  because  the  devil  hath  so  rooted  sin  in  the 
nature  of  man.  Is  not  man  God’s  creature,  and  can¬ 
not  He  new  make  him,  and  cast  sin  out  of  him?  If 
you  say  sin  is  deeply  rooted  in  man,  I  say  so, too;  yet 
not  so  deeply  rooted  but  Christ  Jesus  hath  entered  so 
deeply  into  the  root  of  the  nature  of  man,  that  He  hath 
received  power  to  destroy  the  devil  and  his  works, 
and  to  recover  and  redeem  man  into  righteousness 
and  holiness.  Or  else  it  is  false  that  ‘He  is  able  to 
saveto  theuttermost  all  that  comeunto  God  by  Him.’ 
We  must  throw  away  the  Bible  if  we  say  that  it  is 
impossible  for  God  to  deliver  man  out  of  sin. 

“We  know,”  he  continues,  “when  our  friends  are 
in  captivity,  as  in  Turkey  or  elsewhere,  we  pay  our 
money  for  their  redemption  ;  but  we  will  not  pay  our 
money  if  they  be  kept  iu  their  fetters  still.  Would 
not  any  one  think  himself  cheated  to  pay  so  much 
money  for  their  redemption,  and  the  bargain  be  made 
so  that  he  shall  be  said  to  be  redeemed,  and  be  called 
a  redeemed  captive,  but  he  must  wear  his  fetters 


24 


SECRET  OF  A  HAPPY  LTFE 


still?  How  long?  As  long  as  he  hath  a  day  to  live. 
This  is  for  bodies,  but  now  I  am  speaking  of  souls. 
Christ  must  be  made  to  me  redemption,  and  rescue 
me  from  captivity.  Am  1  a  prisoner  anywhere  ?  Yes, 
verily,  verily,  he  that  committeth  sin,  saith  Christ,  he 
is  a  servant  of  sin,  he  is  a  slave  of  sin.  If  thou  hast 
sinned,  thou  art  a  slave,  a  captive  that  must  be  re¬ 
deemed^  out  of  captivity.  Who  will  pay  a  price  for 
me?  I  am  poor;  I  have  nothing;  I  cannot  redeem 
myself:  who  will  pay  a  price  for  me?  There  is  One 
come  who  hath  paid  a  price  for  me.  That  is  well; 
that  is  good  news ;  then  I  hope  I  shall  come  out  of 
my  captivity.  What  is  His  name  ?  Is  He  called  a  Re¬ 
deemer?  So,  then,  I  do  expect  the  benefit  of  my 
redemption,  and  that  I  shall  go  out  of  my  captivity. 
No,  say  they,  you  must  abide  in  sin  as  long  as  you 
live.  What!  must  we  never  be  delivered?  Must 
this  crooked  heart  and  perverse  will  always  remain  ? 
Must  I  be  a  believer,  and  yet  have  no  faith  that  reach- 
eth  to  sanctification  and  holy  living?  Is  there  no 
mastery  to  be  had,  no  getting  victory  over  sin  ?  Must 
it  prevail  over  me  as  long  as  I  live?  What  sort  of  a 
Redeemer,  then,  is  this,  or  what  benefit  have  I  in  this 
life,  of  my  redemption?” 

Similar  extracts  might  be  quoted  from  Marshall 
and  Romaine.and  many  others,  to  show  that  this  doc¬ 
trine  is  no  new  one  in  the  Church,  however  much  it 
may  have  been  lost  sight  of  by  the  present  generation 
of  believers.  It  is  the  same  old  story  that  has  filled 
with  songs  of  triumph  the  daily  lives  of  many  saints 
of  God,  both  Catholic  and  Protestant,  throughout  all 
ages ;  and  it  is  now  being  sounded  forth  afresh  to  the 
unspeakable  joy  of  weary  and  burdened  souls. 


IS  IT  SCRIPTUAL? 


25 


Do  not  reject  it,  then,  dear  reader,  until  you  have 
prayerfully  searched  the  Scriptures  to  see  whether 
these  things  be  indeed  so.  Ask  God  to  open  the  eyes 
of  your  understanding  by  His  Spirit,  that  you  may 
know  “  what  is  the  exceeding  greatness  of  His  power 
to  us-ward  who  believe,  according  to  the  working  of 
His  mighty  power,  which  He  wrought  in  Christ,  when 
He  raised  Him  from  the  dead,  and  set  Him  at  His 
own  right  hand  in  the  heavenly  places.”  And  when 
you  have  begun  to  have  some  faint  glimpses  of  this 
power,  learn  to  look  away  utterly  from  your  own  weak¬ 
ness,  and,  putting  your  case  into  His  hands,  trust  Him 
to  deliver  you. 

“When  thou  goest  out  to  battle  against  thine  ene¬ 
mies,  and  seest  horses,  and  chariots,  and  a  people 
more  than  thou,  be  not  afraid  of  them:  for  the  Lord 
thy  God  is  with  thee,  which  brought  thee  up  out  of 
the  land  of  Egypt.  And  it  shall  be,  when  ye  are  come 
nigh  unto  the  battle,  that  the  priest  shall  approach 
and  speak  unto  the  people,  and  shall  say  unto  them, 
Hear,  O  Israel  ye  approach  this  day  unto  battle 
against  your  enemies :  let  not  your  hearts  faint,  fear 
not,  and  do  not  tremble,  neither  be  ye  terrified  because 
of  them ;  for  the  Lord  your  God  is  He  that  goeth  with 
you,  to  fight  for  you  against  your  enemies  to  save 
you.” 


26 


SECRET  OF  A  HAPPY  LIFE . 


CHAPTER  II. 

god’s  side  and  man’s  side. 

MUCH  misunderstanding  arises,  in  reference  to 
this  subject  of  the  life  and  walk  of  faith,  from 
the  fact  that  its  two  sides  are  not  clearly  seen.  Peo¬ 
ple  are  apt  to  think  that  there  is  only  one  side  to  it, 
and,  dwelling  exclusively  upon  the  one  thc}^  happen 
to  see  the  most  cleari}^,  without  even  a  thought  of  any 
other,  it  is  no  wonder  that  distorted  views  of  the 
whole  matter  are  the  legitimate  consequence. 

Now,  there  are  two  very  decided  and  distinct  sides 
to  this  subject,  and,  like  all  other  subjects,  it  cannot 
be  fully  understood  unless  both  of  these  sides  are 
kept  constantly  in  view.  I  refer  of  course  to  God’s 
side  and  man’s  side;  or,  in  other  words,  to  God’s 
part  in  the  work  of  sanctification,  and  man’s  part. 
These  are  very  distinct  and  even  contrasting,  but,  al¬ 
though  to  a  cursory  observer  they  ma}'  sometimes  so 
appear,  they  are  not  really  contradictory. 

At  one  time  this  was  very  strikingly  illustrated  to 
me.  There  were  two  teachers  of  this  interior  life 
holding  meetings  in  the  same  place,  at  alternate  ' 
hours.  One  spoke  only  of  God’s  part  in  the  work, 
and  the  other  dwelt  exclusively  upon  man’s  part. 
They  were  both  in  perfect  sympathy  with  each  other, 
and  realized  fully  that  they  were  each  teaching  differ¬ 
ent  sides  of  the  same  great  truth ;  and  this  also  was 


GOD'S  SIDE  AND  MAN'S  SIDE. 


27 


understood  by  a  large  proportion  of  their  hearers. 
But  with  some  of  the  hearers  it  was  different,  and  one 
lady  said  to  me  in  the  greatest  perplexity,  “I  cannot 
understand  it  at  all.  Here  are  two  preachers  under¬ 
taking  to  teach  just  the  same  truth,  and  yet  to  me 
they  seem  flatly  to  contradict  each  other.”  And  I  felt 
at  the  time  that  she  expressed  a  puzzle  that,  very  often, 
causes  great  difficulty  in  the  minds  of  many  honest 
inquirers  after  this  truth. 

Suppose  two  friends  go  to  see  some  celebrated 
building,  and  return  home  to  describe  it.  One  has 
seen  only  the  north  side,  and  the  other  only  the  south. 
The  first  says:  “The  building  was  built  in  such  a 
manner,  and  has  such  and  such  stories  and  orna¬ 
ments.”  “Oh  no,”  says  the  other,  interrupting  him, 
“you  are  altogether  mistaken;  I  saw  the  building, 
and  it  was  built  in  quite  a  different  manner,  and  its 
ornaments  and  stories  were  so  and  so.”  A  lively  dis¬ 
pute  might  follow  upon  the  truth  of  the  respective 
descriptions,  until  the  two  friends  should  discover  that 
they  had  been  describing  different  sides  of  the  build¬ 
ing,  and  then  all  would  be  reconciled  at  once. 

I  would  like  to  state,  as  clearly  as  I  can,  what  I 
judge  to  be  the  two  distinct  sides  in  this  matter;  and 
to  show  how  looking  at  one,  without  seeing  the  other, 
will  be  sure  to  create  wrong  impressions  and  views 
of  the  truth. 

To  state  it  in  brief,  I  would  say,  that  man’s  part 
is  to  trust,  and  God’s  part  is  to  work ;  and  it  can  be 
seen  at  a  glance  how  these  two  parts  contrast  with 
each  other,  and  yet  are  not  necessarily  contradictory. 
I  mean  this:  there  is  a  certain  work  to  be  accom¬ 
plished.  We  are  to  be  delivered  from  the  power  of 


28 


SECRET  OF  A  HAPPY  LIFE . 


sin,  and  are  to  be  made  perfect  in  every  good  work  to 
do  the  will  of  God.  “  Beholding  as  in  a  glass  the 
glory  of  the  Lord,”  we  are  to  be  actually  “changed 
into  the  same  image  from  glory  to  glory,  even  as  by 
the  Spirit  of  the  Lord.”  We  are  to  be  transformed 
by  the  renewing  of  our  minds,  that  we  may  prove 
what  is  that  good,  and  acceptable,  and  perfect  will  of 
God.  A  real  work  is  to  be  wrought  in  us  and  upon 
us.  Besetting  sins  are  to  be  conquered ;  evil  habits 
are  to  be  overcome;  wrong  dispositions  and  feel¬ 
ings  are  to  be  rooted  out,  and  holy  tempers  and  emo¬ 
tions  are  to  be  begotten.  A  positive  transformation 
is  to  take  place.  So  at  least  the  Bible  teaches.  Now, 
somebody  must  do  this.  Either  we  must  do  it  for 
ourselves,  or  another  must  do  it  for  us.  We  have 
most  pf  us  tried  to  do  it  for  ourselves  at  first,  and 
have  grievously  failed ;  then  we  discover,  from  the 
Scriptures  and  from  our  own  experience,  that  it  is 
something  we  are  unable  to  do,  but  that  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ  has  come  on  purpose  to  do  it,  and  that 
He  will  do  it  for  all  who  put  themselves  wholly  into 
His  hands  and  trust  Him  without  reserve.  Now, 
under  these  circumstances,  what  is  the  part  of  the  be¬ 
liever,  and  what  is  the  part  of  the  Lord  ?  Plainly  the 
believer  can  do  nothing  but  trust ;  while  the  Lord,  in 
whom  he  trusts,  actually  does  the  work  intrusted  to 
Him.  Trusting  and  doing  are  certainly  contrasted 
things,  often  indeed  contradictory  ;  but  are  the}1,  com 
tradictory  in  this  case?  Manifestly  not,  because  it  is 
two  different  parties  that  are  concerned.  If  we  should 
say  of  one  party  in  a  transaction,  that  he  trusted  his 
case  to  another,  and  yet  attended  to  it  himself,  we 
should  state  a  contradiction  and  an  impossibility. 


2 


GOD'S  SIDE  AND  MAN'S  SIDE.  29 


but,  when  we  say  of  two  parties  in  a  transaction,  that 
one  trusts  the  other  to  do  something,  and  that  the 
other  goes  to  work  and  does  it,  we  are  stating  some¬ 
thing  that  is  perfectly  simple  and  harmonious.  When 
we  say,  therefore,  that,  in  this  higher  life,  man’s  part 
is  to  trust,  and  God’s  part  is  to  do  the  thing  intrusted 
to  Him,  we  do  not  surely  present  any  very  difficult 
or  puzzling  problem. 

The  preacher,  who  is  speaking  on  man’s  part  in  the 
matter,  cannot  speak  of  anything  but  surrender  and 
trust,  because  this  is  positively  all  the  man  can  do. 
We  all  agree  about  this.  And  yet  such  preachers  are 
constantly  criticised  as  though,  in  saying  this,  they 
had  meant  to  imply  there  was  no  other  part,  and  that 
therefore  nothing  but  trusting  is  to  be  done.  And  the 
cry  goes  out  that  this  doctrine  of  faith  does  away  with 
all  realities,  that  souls  are  just  told  to  trust,  and  there 
is  the  end  of  it,  and  that  they  sit  down  thenceforward 
in  a  sort  of  religious  easy-chair,  dreaming  away  a  life, 
fruitless  of  any  actual  result.  All  this  misapprehen¬ 
sion  arises,  of  course,  from  the  fact  that  either  the 
preacher  has  neglected  to  state,  or  the  hearer  has 
failed  to  hear  the  other  side  of  the  matter,  which  is, 
that  when  we  trust,  the  Lord  works,  and  that  a  great 
deal  is  done,  not  by  us,  but  by  Him.  Actual  results 
are  reached  by  our  trusting,  because  our  Lord  under¬ 
takes  the  thing  entrusted  to  Him,  and  accomplishes 
it.  We  do  not  do  anything,  but  He  does  it,  and  it 
is  all  the  more  effectually  done  because  of  this.  As 
soon  as  this  is  clearly  seen,  the  difficulty  as  to  the 
preaching  of  faith  disappears  entirely. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  preacher  who  dwells  on 
God’s  part  in  the  matter  is  criticised  on  a  totally  dif- 


30 


SECRET  OF  A  HAPPY  LIFE. 


ferent  ground.  He  does  not  speak  of  trust,  for  the 
Lord’s  part  is  not  to  trust,  but  to  work.  The  Lord’s 
part  is  to  do  the  thing  intrusted  to  Him.  He  disci¬ 
plines  and  trains  by  inward  exercises  and  outward 
providences.  He  brings  to  bear  upon  us  all  the  refin¬ 
ing  and  purifying  resources  of  His  wisdom  and  His 
love.  He  makes  everything  in  our  lives  and  circum¬ 
stances  subservient  to  the  one  great  purpose  of  caus¬ 
ing  us  to  grow  in  grace,  and  of  conforming  us.  day  by 
day  and  hour  by  hour,  to  the  image  of  Christ.  He 
carries  us  through  a  process  of  transformation,  longer 
or  shorter  as  our  peculiar  case  may  require,  making 
actual  and  experimental  the  results  for  which  we 
have  trusted.  We  have  dared,  for  instance,  accord¬ 
ing  to  the  command  in  Rom.  vi.  11,  by  faith  to  reckon 
ourselves  dead  unto  sin.  The  Lord  makes  this  a 
reality,  and  puts  us  to  death  by  a  thousand  little 
mortifications  and  crosses  to  the  natural  man.  Our 
reckoning  is  available  only  because  God  thus  makes 
it  real.  And  yet  the  preacher  who  dwells  upon  this 
practical  side  of  the  matter,  and  tells  of  God’s  pro¬ 
cesses  for  making  faith’s  reckonings  experimental 
realities,  may  be  accused  of  contradicting  the  preach¬ 
ing  of  faith  altogether,  and  of  declaring  only  a  process 
of  gradual  sanctification  by  works,  and  of  setting 
before  the  soul  an  impossible  and  hopeless  task. 

Now,  sanctification  is  both  a  step  of  faith,  and  a 
process  of  works.  It  is  a  step  of  surrender  and  trust 
on  our  part,  and  it  is  a  process  of  development  on 
God’s  part.  By  a  step  of  faith  we  get  into  Christ; 
hy  a  process  we  are  made  to  “grow  up  into  Him  in 
all  things.”  By  a  step  of  faith  we  put  ourselves  into 
the  hands  of  the  Divine  Potter;  by  a  gradual  process 


GOD'S  SIDE  AND  MAN'S  SIDE. 


31 


He  makes  us  into  a  vessel  unto  His  own  honor,  meet 
for  His  use,  and  prepared  to  every  good  work. 

To  illustrate  this,  suppose  I  were  to  describe  to 
a  person,  who  was  entirely  ignorant  of  the  subject, 
the  way  in  which  a  lump  of  clat^  is  made  into  a  beau¬ 
tiful  vessel.  I  tell  him  first  the  part  of  the  clay  in 
the  matter;  and  all  I  can  say  about  this  is,  that  the 
clay  is  put  into  the  potter’s  hands,  and  then  lies  pas¬ 
sive  there,  submitting  itself  to  all  the  turnings  and 
overturnings  of  the  potter’s  hands  upon  it.  There  is 
really  nothing  else  to  be  said  about  the  cla3^’s  part. 
But  could  my  hearer  argue  from  this,  that  nothing 
else  is  done,  because  I  say  that  this  is  all  the  clay 
can  do?  If  he  is  an  intelligent  hearer,  he  will  not 
dream  of  doing  so,  but  will  sa}'',  “I  understand;  this 
is  what  the  clay  must  do.  But  what  must  the  pot¬ 
ter  do?”  “Ah,”  I  answer,  “now  we  come  to  the 
important  part.  The  potter  takes  the  clay  thus 
abandoned  to  his  working,  and  begins  to  mould  and 
fashion  it,  according  to  his  own  will.  He  kneads  and 
works  it;  he  tears  it  apart  and  presses  it  together 
again;  he  wets  it  and  then  suffers  it  to  dry.  Some¬ 
times  he  works  at  it  for  hours  together;  sometimes  he 
lays  it  aside  for  days,  and  does  not  touch  it.  And 
then,  when  by  all  these  processes  he  has  made  it  per¬ 
fectly  pliable  in  his  hands,  he  proceeds  to  make  it  up 
into  the  vessel  he  has  proposed.  He  turns  it  upon 
the  wheel,  planes  it  and  smooths  it,  and  dries  it  in 
the  sun,  bakes  it  in  the  oven,  and  finally  turns  it  out 
of  his  workshop,  a  vessel  to  his  honor,  and  fit  for  bis 
use.” 

Will  my  reader  be  likely  now  to  say  that  I  am  con¬ 
tradicting  myself,  that  a  little  while  ago  I  had  said 


32 


SECRET  OF  A  HAPPY  LIFE . 


the  clay  had  nothing-  to  do  but  to  lie  passive  in  the 
potter’s  hands,  and  that  now  I  am  putting  upon  it  a 
great  work,  which  it  is  not  able  to  perform,  and  that 
to  make  itself  into  such  a  vessel  is  an  impossible  and 
hopeless  undertaking?  Surely  not.  For  he  will  see 
that  while  before  I  was  speaking  of  the  clay’s  part  in 
the  matter,  I  am  now  speaking  of  the  potter’s  part, 
and  that  these  two  are  necessarily  contrasted,  but 
not  in  the  least  contradictory ;  and  that  the  clay  is  not 
expected  to  do  the  potter’s  work,  but  only  to  yield 
itself  up  to  his  working. 

Nothing,  it  seems  to  me,  could  be  clearer  than  the 
perfect  harmony  between  these  two  apparently  con¬ 
tradictory  sorts  of  teaching. 

What  can  be  said  about  man’s  part  in  this  great 
work,  but  that  he  must  continually  surrender  himself 
and  continually  trust?  But  when  we  come  to  God’s 
side  of  the  question,  what  is  there  that  may  not  be 
said  as  to  the  manifold  and  wonderful  ways,  in  which 
He  accomplishes  the  work  intrusted  to  Him  ?  It  is 
here  that  the  growing  comes  in.  The  lump  of  clay 
could  never  grow  into  a  beautiful  vessel,  if  it  stayed 
in  the  clay-pit  for  thousands  of  years;  but  when  it  is 
put  into  the  hands  of  a  skilful  potter  it  grows  rapidly, 
under  his  fashioning,  into  the  vessel  he  intends  it  to 
be.  And  in  the  same  way  the  soul,  abandoned  to  the 
working  of  the  Heavenly  Potter,  is  made  into  a  vessel 
unto  honor,  sanctified,  and  meet  for  the  Master’s  use. 

.Having,  therefore,  taken  the  step  of  faith  by  which 
you  have  put  yourself  wholly  and  absolutely  into  His 
hands,  you  must  now  expect  Him  to  begin  to  work. 
His  way  of  accomplishing  that  which  you  have  in- 


GOD'S  SIDE  AND  MAN'S  SIDE . 


33 


trusted  to  Him,  may  be  different  from  your  way;  but 
He  knows,  and  you  must  be  satisfied. 

I  knew  a  lady  who  had  entered  into  this  life  of 
faith  with  a  great  outpouring  of  the  Spirit,  and  a  won¬ 
derful  flood  of  light  and  jo}r.  She  supposed,  of  course, 
this  was  a  preparation  for  some  great  service,  and 
expected  to  be  put  forth  immediately  into  the  Lord’s 
harvest-field.  Instead  of  this,  almost  at  once  her  hus¬ 
band  lost  all  his  money,  and  she  was  shut  up  in  her 
own  house,  to  attend  to  all  sorts  of  domestic  duties, 
with  no  time  or  strength  left  for  any  Gospel  work  at 
all.  She  accepted  the  discipline,  and  yielded  herself 
up  as  heartily  to  sweep,  and  dust,  and  bake,  and  sew, 
as  she  would  have  done  to  preach,  or  pray,  or  write 
for  the  Lord.  And  the  result  was  that,  through  this 
very  training,  He  made  her  into  a  vessel  “meet  for 
the  Master’s  use,  and  prepared  unto  every  good 
work.” 

Another  lady,  who  had  entered  this  life  of  faith 
under  similar  circumstances  of  wondrous  blessing,  and 
who  also  expected  to  be  sent  out  to  do  some  great 
work  .  was  shut  up  with  two  peevish  invalid  children, 
to  nurse,  and  humor,  and  amuse  all  day  long.  Unlike 
the  first  one,  this  lady  did  not  accept  the  train¬ 
ing,  but  chafed  and  fretted,  and  finally  rebelled,  lost 
all  her  blessing,  and  went  back  into  a  state  of  sad 
coldness  and  misery.  She  had  understood  her  part 
of  trusting  to  begin  with,  but,  not  understanding  the 
Divine  process  of  accomplishing  that  for  which  she 
had  trusted,  she  took  herself  out  of  the  hands  of  the 
Heavenly  Potter,  and  the  vessel  wras  marred  on  the 
wheel. 

I  believe  many  a  vessel  has  been  similarly  marred 


34 


SECRET  OF  A  HAPPY  LIFE . 


by  a  want  of  understanding  these  things.  The  matur¬ 
ity  of  a  Christian  experience  cannot  be  reached  in  a 
moment,  but  is  the  result  of  the  work  of  God’s  Holy 
Spirit,  who,  by  His  energizing  and  transforming  power, 
causes  us  to  grow  up  into  Christ  in  all  things.  And 
we  cannot  hope  to  reach  this  maturity  in  any  other 
way,  than  by  yielding  ourselves  up,  utterly  and  will¬ 
ingly,  to  His  mighty  working.  But  the  sanctification 
the  Scriptures  urge,  as  a  present  experience  upon  all 
believers,  does  not  consist  in  maturity  of  growth,  but 
in  purity  of  heart ;  and  this  may  be  as  complete  in  the 
early,  as  in  our  later  experiences. 

The  lump  of  clay,  from  the  moment  it  comes  under 
the  transforming  hand  of  the  potter,  is,  during  each 
day  and  each  hour  of  the  process,  just  what  the  potter 
wants  it  to  be  at  that  hour  or  on  that  day,  and  there¬ 
fore  pleases  him ;  but  it  is  very  far  from  being 
matured  into  the  vessel  he  intends  in  the  future  to 
make  it. 

The  little  babe  maybe  all  that  a  babe  could  be,  or 
ought  to  be,  and  may  therefore  perfectly  please  its 
mother;  and  yet  it  is  very  far  from  being  what  that 
mother  would  wish  it  to  be  when  the  years  of  matur¬ 
ity  shall  come. 

The  apple  in  June  is  a  perfect  apple  for  June;  it 
is  the  best  apple  that  June  can  produce:  but  it  is 
very  different  from  the  apple  in  October,  which  is  a 
perfected  apple. 

God’s  works  are  perfect  in  every  stage  of  their 
growth.  Man’s  works  are  never  perfect  until  they 
are  in  every  respect  complete. 

All  that  we  claim,  then,  in  this  life  of  sanctification 
is,  that  by  an  act  of  faith  we  put  ourselves  into  the 


GOD’S  SIDE  AND  MAN’S  SIDE . 


35 


hands  of  the  Lord,  for  Him  to  work  in  us  all  the  good 
pleasure  of  His  will,  and  then,  by  a  continuous  exer¬ 
cise  of  faith,  keep  ourselves  there.  This  is  our  part 
in  the  matter.  And  when  we  do  it,  and  while  we  do 
it,  we  are,  in  the  Scripture  sense,  truly  pleasing  to 
God,  although  it  may  require  years  of  training  and 
discipline  to  mature  us  into  a  vessel  that  shall  be  in 
all  respects  to  His  honor,  and  fitted  to  every  good 
work. 

Our  part  is  the  trusting;  it  is  His  to  accomplish 
the  results.  And  when  we  do  our  part,  He  never  fails 
to  do  His,  for  no  one  ever  trusted  in  the  Lord  and 
was  confounded.  Do  not  be  afraid,  then,  that,  if  you 
trust,  or  tell  others  to  trust,  the  matter  will  end  there. 
Trust  is  the  beginning  and  thecontinuing  foundation; 
but  when  we  trust,  the  Lord  works,  and  His  work  is 
the  important  part  of  the  whole  matter.  And  this 
explains  that  apparent  paradox  which  puzzles  so 
many.  They  say,  “In  one  breath  you  tell  us  to  do 
nothing  but  trust,  and  in  the  next  you  tell  us  to  do  im¬ 
possible  things.  How  can  you  reconcile  such  con¬ 
tradictory  statements?”  They  are  to  be  reconciled, 
just  as  we  reconcile  the  statements  concerning  a  saw 
in  a  carpenter’s  shop,  when  we  say,  at  one  moment, 
that  the  saw  has  sawn  asunder  a  log,  and  the  next 
moment  declare  that  the  carpenter  has  done  it.  The 
saw  is*the  instrument  used;  the  power  that  uses  it  is 
the  carpenter’s.  And  so  we,  yielding  ourselves  unto 
God,  and  our  members  as  instruments  of  righteous' 
ness  unto  Him,  find  that  He  works  in  us  to  will  and  to 
do  of  His  good  pleasure,  and  we  can  say  with  Paul, 
“I  labored;  yet  not  I,  but  the  grace  of  God  which 
was  with  me.” 


36 


SECRET  OF  A  HAPPY  LIFE. 


In  the  divine  order,  God’s  working  depends  upon 
our  co-operation.  Of  our  Lord  it  was  declared  that 
at  a  certain  place  He  could  do  there  no  mighty  work 
because  of  their  unbelief.  It  was  not  that  He  would 
not,  but  He  could  not.  I  believe  we  often  think  of 
God  that  He  will  not,  when  the  real  truth  is  that  He 
cannot.  Just  as  the  potter,  however  skilful,  cannot 
make  a  beautiful  vessel  out  of  a  lump  of  clay  that  is 
never  put  into  his  hands,  so  neither  can  God  make  out 
of  me  a  vessel  unto  His  honor,  unless  I  put  myself  into 
His  hands.  My  part  is  the  essential  correlation  of 
God’s  part  in  the  matter  of  my  salvation;  and  as  God 
is  sure  to  do  His  part  all  right,  the  vital  thing  for 
me  is  to  find  out  what  my  part  is,  and  then  do  it. 

In  this  book,  therefore,  I  shall  of  course  dwell  most¬ 
ly  upon  man’s  side,  as  I  am  writing  for  human  beings, 
and  in  the  hope  of  making  it  plain  how  we  are  to  fulfil 
our  part  of  this  great  work.  But  I  wish  it  to  be  dis¬ 
tinctly  understood  all  through,  that,  unless  I  believed 
with  all  my  heart  in  God’s  effectual  working  on  His 
side,  not  one  word  of  this  book  would  ever  have  been 
written. 


THE  LIFE  DEFINED. 


87 


CHAPTER  III. 

THE  LIFE  DEFINED. 

IN  the  first  chapter  I  have  tried  to  settle  the  ques- 
tionastothe  scripturalness  of  the  experience  some¬ 
times  called  the  Higher  Christian  Life  but  which  is  the 
onty  true  Christian  life,  and  which  to  my  own  mind  is 
best  described  in  the  words,  the  “life  hid  with  Christ 
in  God.”  In  the  second,  I  have  sought  to  reconcile 
the  two  distinct  sides  of  this  life;  that  is,  the  part  to  be 
done  by  the  Lord,  and  the  part  necessarily  to  be  done 
by  ourselves.  I  shall  now,  therefore,  consider  it  as  a 
settled  point,  that  the  Scriptures  do  set  before  the 
believer  in  the  Lord  Jesus  a  life  of  abiding  rest  and 
of  continual  victor}^,  which  is  very  far  beyond  the 
ordinary  run  of  Christian  experience;  and  that  in  the 
Bible  we  have  presented  to  us  a  Saviour  able  to  save 
us  from  the  power  of  our  sins  as  really  as  He  saves 
us  from  their  guilt. 

The  point  to  be  next  considered  is  as  to  what  are 
the  chief  characteristics  of  this  life  hid  with  Christ  in 
God,  and  how  it  differs  from  much  in  the  ordinary 
Christian  experience. 

Its  chief  characteristics  are  an  entire  surrender  to  the 
Lord,  and  a  perfect  trust  in  Him,  resulting  in  victory 
over  sin,  and  inward  rest  of  soul ;  and  it  differs  from 
the  lower  range  of  Christian  experience  in  that  it 
causes  us  to  let  the  Lord  carry  our  burdens  and 


38 


SECRET  OF  A  HAPPY  LIFE . 


manage  our  affairs  for  us,  instead  of  trying  to  do  it 
ourselves. 

Most  Christians  are  like  a  man  who  was  toiling 
along  the  road,  bending  under  a  heavy  burden,  when 
a  wagon  jvertook  him,  and  the  driver  kindly  offered 
to  help  nim  on  his  journey.  He  joyfully  accepted  the 
offer  but  when  seated  in  the  wagon,  continued  to 
bend  beneath  his  burden,  which  he  still  kept  on  his 
shoulders.  “Why  do  you  not  lay  down  your  bur¬ 
den?”  asked  the  kind-hearted  driver.  “Oh!”  replied 
the  man,  “I  feel  that  it  is  almost  too  much  to  ask  you 
to  carry  me,  and  I  could  not  think  of  letting  you  carry 
my  burden  too.”  And  so  Christians,  who  have  given 
themselves  into  the  care  and  keeping  of  the  Lord 
Tesus,  still  continue  to  bend  beneath  the  weight  of 
their  burdens,  and  often  go  weary  and  heavy-laden 
throughout  the  whole  length  of  their  journey. 

When  I  speak  of  burdens,  I  mean  everything  that 
troubles  us,  whether  spiritual  or  temporal. 

I  mean,  first  of  all,  ourselves.  The  greatest  burden 
we  have  to  carry  in  life  is  self;  the  most  difficult 
thing  we  have  to  manage  is  self.  Our  own  daily  liv¬ 
ing,  our  frames  and  feelings,  our  especial  weaknesses 
and  temptations,  our  peculiar  temperaments,  our  in¬ 
ward  affairs  of  every  kind, —  these  are  the  things  that 
perplex  and  worry  us  more  than  anything  else,  and 
that  bring  us  most  frequently  into  bondage  and  dark¬ 
ness.  In  laying  off  your  burdens,  therefore,  the  first 
one  you  must  get  rid  of  is  j^ourself.  You  must  hand 
yourself,  with  your  temptations,  your  temperament, 
your  frames  and  feelings,  and  all  your  inward  and  out¬ 
ward  experiences,  over  into  t]ie  care  and  keeping  of 
your  God,  and  leave  it  all  there.  He  made  you,  and 


THE  LIFE  DEFINED. 


39 


therefore  He  understands  you,  and  knows  how  to  man¬ 
age  you;  and  you  must  trust  Him  to  do  it.  Say  to 
Him,  “Here,  Lord,  I  abandon  myself  to  thee.  I  have 
tried  in  every  way  I  could  think  of  to  manage  myself, 
and  to  make  myself  what  I  know  I  ought  to  be,  but 
have  always  failed.  Now  I  give  it  up  to  thee.  Do 
thou  take  entire  possession  of  me.  Work  in  me  all 
the  good  pleasure  of  thy  will.  Mould  and  fashion  me 
into  such  a  vessel  as  seemeth  good  to  thee.  I  leave 
myself  in  thy  hands,  and  T  believe  thou  wilt,  accord¬ 
ing  to  thy  promise,  make  me  into  a  vessel  unto  thy 
own  honor,  ‘  sanctified,  and  meet  for  the  Master’s  use, 
and  prepared  unto  every  good  work.’  ”  And  here  you 
must  rest,  trusting  yourself  thus  to  Him,  continually 
and  absolutely. 

Next,  you  must  lay  off  every  other  burden, — your 
health,  your  reputation,  your  Christian  work,  your 
houses,  your  children,  your  business,  your  servants; 
everything,  in  short,  that  concerns  you,  whether 
inward  or  outward. 

It  is  generally  much  less  difficult  for  us  to  commit 
the  keeping  of  our  futuie  to  the  Lord,  than  it  is  to 
commit  our  present.  We  know  we  are  helpless  as 
regards  the  future,  but  we  feel  as  if  the  present  was 
in  our  own  hands,  and  must  be  carried  on  our  own 
shoulders;  and  most  of  us  have  an  unconfessed  idea 
that  ic  is  a  great  deal  to  ask  the  Lord  to  carry  our¬ 
selves,  and  that  we  cannot  think  of  asking  Him  to 
carry  our  burdens  too. 

I  knew  a  Christian  lady  who  had  a  very  heavy  tem¬ 
poral  burden.  It  took  away  her  sleep  and  her  appe¬ 
tite,  and  there  was  danger  of  her  health  breaking 
down  under  it.  One  day,  when  it  seemed  especially 


40 


SECRET  OF  A  HAPPY  LIFE. 


heavy,  she  noticed  lying  on  the  table  near  her  a  little 
tract  called  “Hannah’s  Faith.”  Attracted  by  the 
title,  she  picked  it  up  and  began  to  read  it,  little 
knowing,  however,  that  it  was  to  create  a  revolution 
in  her  whole  experience.  The  story  was  of  a  poor 
woman  who  had  been  carried  triumphantly  through  a 
life  of  unusual  sorrow.  She  was  giving  the  historj1-  of 
her  life  to  a  kind  visitor  on  one  occasion,  and  at  the 
close  the  visitor  said  feelingly,  “Oh,  Hannah,  I  do 
not  see  how  you  could  bear  so  much  sorrow!”  “1 
did  not  bear  it,”  was  the  quick  reply;  “ the  Lord  bore 
it  for  me.”  “Yes,”  said  the  visitor,  “that  is  the  right 
way.  We  must  take  our  troubles  to  the  Lord.” 
“Yes,”  replied  Hannah,  “but  we  must  do  more  than 
that:  we  must  leave  them  there.  Most  people,”  she 
continued,  “take  their  burdens  to  Him,  but  they 
bring  them  away  with  them  again,  and  are  just  as 
worried  and  unhappy  as  ever.  But  I  take  mine, 
and  I  leave  them  with  Him,  and  come  away  and 
forget  them.  If  the  worry  comes  back,  I  take  it 
to  Him  again;  and  I  do  this  over  and  over,  until 
at  last  I  just  forget  I  have  any  worries,  and  am  at 
perfect  rest.” 

My  friend  was  very  much  struck  with  this  plan,  and 
resolved  to  try  it.  The  circumstances  of  her  life  she 
could  not  alter,  but  she  took  them  to  the  Lord,  and 
handed  them  over  into  His  management;  and  then 
she  believed  that  He  took  it,  and  she  left  all  the  respon¬ 
sibility  and  the  worry  and  anxiety  with  Him.  As 
often  as  the  anxieties  returned,  she  took  them  back; 
and  the  result  was,  that,  although  the.  circumstances 
remained  unchanged,  her  soul  was  kept  in  perfect 
peace  in  the  midst  of  them.  She  felt  that  she  had 


THE  LIFE  DEFINED. 


41 


found  out  a  practical  secret ;  and  from  that  time  she 
sought  never  to  carry  her  own  burdens,  nor  to  manage 
her  own  affairs,  but  to  hand  them  over,  as  fast  as  they 
arose,  to  the  Divine  Burden-bearer. 

This  same  secret,  also,  which  she  had  found  to  be 
so  effectual  in  her  outward  life,  proved  to  be  still 
more  effectual  in  her  inward  life,  which  was  in  truth 
even  more  utterly  unmanageable.  She  abandoned 
her  whole  self  to  the  Lord,  with  all  that  she  was  and 
all  that  she  had,  and,  believing  that  He  took  that 
which  she  had  committed  to  Him,  she  ceased  to  fret 
and  worry,  and  her  life  became  all  sunshine  in  the 
gladness  of  belonging  to  Him.  It  was  a  very  simple 
secret  she  found  out ;  only  this,  that  it  was  possible 
to  obey  God ’s  commandment  contained  in  those  words, 
“Be  careful  for  nothing;  but  in  everything  by  prayer 
and  supplication,  with  thanksgiving,  let  your  requests 
bemadeknownuntoGod  ;  ”  and  that,  in  obeying  it,  the 
result  would  inevitably  be,  according  to  the  promise, 
that  the  “peace  of  God  which  passeth  all  understand¬ 
ing  shall  keep  your  hearts  and  minds  through  Christ 
Jesus.” 

There  are  many  other  things  to  be  said  about  this 
life  hid  with  Christ  in  God,  many  details  as  to  what 
the  Lord  Jesus  does  for  those  who  thus  abandon 
themselves  to  Him.  But  the  gist  of  the  whole  matter 
is  here  stated  ;  and  the  soul  that  has  discovered  this 
secret  of  simple  faith,  has  found  the  key  that  will 
unlock  the  whole  treasure-house  of  God. 

I  am  sure  these  pages  will  fall  into  the  hands  of 
some  child  of  God  who  is  hungering  for  just  such  a 
life  as  I  have  been  describing.  You  long  unspeaka¬ 
bly  to  get  rid  of  your  weary  burdens.  You  would  be 


42 


SECRET  OF  A  HAPPY  LIFE. 


delighted  to  hand  over  the  management  of  your 
unmanageable  self  into  the  hands  of  one  who  is  able  to 
manage  you.  You  are  tired  and  weary,  and  the  rest 
I  speak  of  looks  unutterably  sweet  to  you. 

Do  you  recollect  the  delicious  sense  of  rest  with 
which  you  have  sometimes  gone  to  bed  at  night,  after 
a  da}'  of  great  exertion  and  weariness  ?  Ho\V  delight¬ 
ful  was  the  sensation  of  relaxing  every  muscle,  and 
letting  3'our  body  go  in  a  perfect  abandonment  of  ease 
and  comfort !  The  strain  of  the  day  had  ceased,  for  a 
few  hours  at  least,  and  the  work  of  the  day  had  been 
laid  off.  You  no  longer  had  to  hold  up  an  aching  head 
or  a  weary  back.  You  trusted  yourself  to  the  bed  in  an 
absolute  confidence,  and  it  held  you  up,  without  effort, 
or  strain,  or  even  thought,  on  your  part.  You  rested ! 

But  suppose  you  had  doubted  the  strength  or  the 
stability  of  your  bed,  and  had  dreaded  each  moment  to 
find  it  giving  wav  beneath  you  and  landing  3*011011  the 
floor;  could  3*ou  have  rested  then?  Would  not  every 
muscle  have  been  strained  in  a  fruitless  effort  to  hold 
yourself  up,  and  would  not  the  weariness  have  been 
greater  than  if  you  had  not  gone  to  bed  at  all? 

Let  this  analog3r  teach  you  what  it  means  to  rest  in 
the  Lord.  Let  your  souls  lie  down  upon  the  couch  of 
His  sweet  will,  as  your  bodies  lie  down  in  their  beds 
at  night.  Relax  eveiw  strain,  and  lay  off  every  bur¬ 
den.  Let  yourself  go  in  a  perfect  abandonment  of 
ease  and  comfort,  sure  that,  since  He  holds  3'ou  up, 
you  are  perfectly  safe.  Your  part  is  simply  to  rest. 
His  part  is  to  sustain  you ;  and  He  cannot  fail. 

Or  take  another  analogy,  which  our  Lord  Himself  has 
abundantly  sanctioned,— that  of  the  child-life.  For 
“Jesus  called  a  little  child  unto  Him  „  and  set  him  in 


THE  LIFE  DEFINED. 


43 


the  midst  of  them,  and  said,  Except  ye  be  converted 
and  become  as  little  children,  ye  shall  not  enter  into 
the  kingdom  of  heaven.” 

Now,  what  are  the  characteristics  of  a  little  child, 
and  how  does  it  live?  It  lives  by  faith,  a;:d  its  chief 
characteristic  is  freedom  from  care.  Its  life  is  one 
long  trust  from  year’s  end  to  year’s  end.  It  trusts 
its  parents,  it  trusts  its  care-takers,  it  trusts  its  teach¬ 
ers;  it  even  trusts  people  sometimes  who  are  utterly 
unworthy  of  trust,  out  of  the  abounding  trustfulness 
of  its  nature.  And  this  trust  is  abundantly  answered. 
The  child  provides  nothing  for  itself,  and  yet  every¬ 
thing  is  provided.  It  takes  no  thought  for  the  mor¬ 
row,  and  forms  no  plans,  and  yet  all  its  life  is  planned 
out  for  it,  and  it  finds  its  paths  made  ready,  opening 
out  as  it  comes  to  them  day  by  day  and  hour  by  hour. 
It  goes  in  and  out  of  its  father’s  house  with  an  un¬ 
speakable  ease  and  abandonment,  enjoying  all  the 
good  things  therein,  without  having  spent  a  penny 
in  procuring  them.  Pestilence  may  walk  through  the 
streets  of  its  city,  but  the  child  regards  it  not.  Fam¬ 
ine  and  fire  and  war  may  rage  around  it,  but  under  its 
father’s  tender  care  the  child  abides  in  utter  uncon¬ 
cern  and  perfect  rest.  It  lives  in  the  present  mo¬ 
ment,  and  receives  its  life  unquestioningly,  as  it  comes 
to  it  day  by  day  from  its  father’s  hands. 

I  was  visiting  once  in  a  wealthy  home,  where  there 
was  a  little  adopted  child,  upon  whom  was  lavished 
all  the  love  and  tenderness  and  care  that  human  hearts 
could  bestow,  or  human  means  procure.  And  as  I 
watched  that  child  running  in  and  out  day  by  day,  free 
and  light-hearted,  with  the  happy  carelessness  of  child¬ 
hood,  I  thought  what  a  picture  it  was  of  our  wonderful 


44 


SECRET  OF  A  HAPPY  LIFE. 


position  as  children  in  the  house  of  our  Heavenly 
Father.  And  I  said  to  myself,  If  nothing  would  so 
grieve  and  wound  the  loving  hearts  around  her,  as  to 
see  this  little  child  beginning  to  be  worried  or  anxious 
about  herself  in  any  way, — about  whether  her  food 
and  clothes  would  be  provided,  or  how  she  was  to  gel 
her  education  or  her  future  support, —how  much  more 
must  the  great,  loving  heart  of  our  God  and  Father 
be  grieved  and  wounded  at  seeing  his  children  taking 
so  much  anxious  care  and  thought  !  And  I  under¬ 
stood  why  it  was  that  our  Lord  had  said  to  us  so 
emphatically,  “Take  no  thought  for  yourselves.” 

Who  is  the  best  cared  for  in  every  household?  Is 
it  not  the  little  children?  And  does  not  the  least  of 
all,  the  helpless  baby,  receive  the  largest  share?  We 
all  know  that  the  baby  toils  not,  neither  does  it  spin; 
and  yet  it  is  fed,  and  clothed,  and  loved,  and  rejoiced 
in  more  tenderly  than  the  hardest  worker  of  them  all. 

This  life  of  faith,  then,  about  which  I  am  writing, 
consists  in  just  this, — being  a  child  in  the  Father’s 
house.  And  when  this  is  said,  enough  is  said  to 
transform  every  weary,  burdened  life  into  one  of 
blessedness  and  rest. 

Let  the  ways  of  childish  confidence  and  freedom 
from  care,  which  so  please  you  and  win  your  hearts 
in  your  ownlittle  ones,  teach  you  what  should  beyour 
ways  with  God  ;  and,  leaving  j^oursel  ves  in  His  Lands, 
learn  to  be  literally  “careful  for  nothing;”  and  you 
shall  find  it  to  be  a  fact  that  the  peace  of  God,  which 
passeth  all  understanding,  shall  keep  (as  with  a  gar¬ 
rison)  j^our  hearts  and  minds  through  Christ  Jesus. 

“Thou  wilt  keep  him  in  perfect  peace  whose  mind 
is  stayed  on  Thee,  because  he  trusteth  in  Thee.” 


THE  LIFE  DEFINED. 


45 


This  is  the  Divine  description  of  the  life  of  faith  about 
which  I  am  writing.  It  is  no  speculative  theory,  nei¬ 
ther  is  it  a  dream  of  romance.  There  is  such  a  thing 
as  having  one’s  soul  kept  in  perfect  peace,  now  and 
here  in  this  life;  and  ehii alike  trust  in  God  is  the  key 
to  its  attainment. 


46 


SECRET  OF  A  HAPPY  LIFE. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

HOW  TO  ENTER  IN. 

IT AVING  sought  to  settle  the  question  as  to  the 
XI  scriptural  ness  of  an  actual  living  of  this  life  hid 
with  Christ  in  God,  and  having  also  shown  a  little  of 
what  it  is,  the  next  point  is  as  to  how  it  is  to  be 
reached  and  realized. 

I  would  say,  first  of  all,  that  this  blessed  life  must 
not  be  looked  upon  in  any  sense  as  an  attainment, 
but  as  an  obtainment.  We  cannot  earn  it,  we  cannot 
climb  up  to  it,  we  cannot  win  it;  we  can  do  nothing 
but  ask  for  it  and  receive  it.  It  is  the  gift  of  God  in 
Christ  Jesus.  And  where  a  thing  is  a  gift,  the  only 
course  left  for  the  receiver  is  to  take  it  and  thank  the 
giver.  We  never  say  of  a  gift,  “See  to  what  I  have 
attained,”  and  boast  of  our  skill  and  wisdom  in  hav¬ 
ing  attained  it;  but  we  say,  “See  what  has  been  given 
me,”  and  boast  of  the  love  and  wealth  and  generosity 
of  the  giver.  And  everything  in  our  salvation  is  a 
gift.  From  beginning  to  end,  God  is  the  giver  and  we 
are  the  receivers;  and  it  is  not  to  those  who  do  great 
things,  but  to  those  who  “receive  abundance  of  grace 
and  of  the  gift  of  righteousness,”  that  the  richest 
promises  are  made. 

In  order,  therefore,  to  enter  into  a  practical  experi¬ 
ence  of  this  interior  life,  the  soul  must  be  in  a  recep¬ 
tive  attitude,  fully  recognizing  the  fact  that  it  is  God’s 


HOW  TO  ENTER  IN. 


47 


gift  in  Christ  Jesus,  and  that  it  cannot  be  gained  by 
any  efforts  or  works  of  our  own.  This  will  simplify 
the  matter  exceedingly ;  and  the  only  thing  left  to  be 
considered  then,  will  be  to  discover  upon  whom  God 
bestows  this  gift,  and  how  they  are  to  receive  it.  To 
this  I  would  answer,  in  short,  that  He  can  bestow  it 
only  upon  the  full}'  consecrated  soul,  and  that  it  is  to 
be  received  by  faith. 

Consecration  is  the  first  thing, —  not  in  any  legal 
sense,  not  in  order  to  purchase  or  deserve  the  bless¬ 
ing,  but  to  remove  the  difficulties  out  of  the  way  and 
make  it  possible  for  God  to  bestow  it.  In  order  for  a 
lump  of  clay  to  be  made  into  a  beautiful  vessel,  it 
must  be  entirely  abandoned  to  the  potter,  and  must 
lie  passive  in  his  hands.  And  similarly,  in  order  for  a 
soul  to  be  made  into  a  vessel  unto  God’s  honor,  “  sanc¬ 
tified  and  meet  for  the  Master’s  use,  and  prepared 
unto  every  good  work,”  it  must  be  utterly  abandoned 
to  Him,  and  must  lie  passive  in  His  hands.  This  is 
manifest  at  the  first  glance. 

I  was  once  trying  to  explain  to  a  physician  who  had 
charge  of  a  large  hospital,  the  necessity  and  meaning 
of  consecration,  but  he  seemed  unable  to  understand. 
At  last  I  said  to  him,  “Suppose,  in  going  your  rounds 
amongyour  patients,  you  should  meet  with  one  man 
who  entreated  you  earnestly  to  take  his  case  under 
your  especial  care  in  order  to  cure  him,  but  who 
should  at  the  same  time  refuse  to  tell  you  all  his 
symptoms  or  to  take  all  your  prescribed  remedies,  and 
should  say  to  you,  ‘I  am  quite  willing  to  follow  your 
directions  as  to  certain  things,  because  they  commend 
themselves  to  my  mind  as  good,  but  in  other  matters 
[  prefer  judging  for  myself,  and  following  my  own 


48 


SECRET  OF  A  HAPPY  LIFE . 


directions.5  What  would  you  do  in  such  a  case  ?”  I 
asked.  “Do!”  he  replied  with  indignation, — “Do! 
I  would  soon  leave  such  a  man  as  that  to  his  own 
care.  For,  of  course,”  he  added,  “I  could  do  nothing 
for  him  unless  he  would  put  his  whole  case  into 
my  hands  without  any  reserves,  and  would  obey 
my  directions  implicitly.”  “It  is  necessary,  then,”  I 
said,  “for  doctors  to  be  obeyed,  if  they  are  to 
have  any  chance  to  cure  their  patient?”  “Implic¬ 
itly  obeyed /”  was  his  emphatic  reply.  “And  that  is 
consecration,”  I  continued.  “God  must  have  the 
whole  case  put  into  His  hands  without  any  reserves, 
and  His  directions  must  be  implicitly  followed.”  “I 
see  it,”  he  exclaimed ;  “I  see  it!  And  I  will  doit.  God 
shall  have  His  own  way  with  me  from  henceforth.” 

To  some  minds  perhaps  the  word  “abandonment” 
might  express  this  idea  better  than  the  word  “conse¬ 
cration.”  But  whatever  word  we  use,  we  mean  an 
entire  surrender  o.f  the  whole  being  to  God, —  spirit, 
soul,  and  body  placed  under  His  absolute  control,  for 
Him  to  do  with  us  just  what  He  pleases.  We  mean 
that  the  language  of  our  hearts,  under  all  circumstan¬ 
ces  and  in  view  of  every  act,  is  to  be  “Thy  will  be  done,’5 
We  mean  the  giving  up  of  all  liberty  of  choice.  We 
mean  a  life  of  inevitable  obedience. 

To  a  soul  ignorant  of  God,  this  may  look  hard; 
but  to  those  who  know  Him,  it  is  the  happiest  and 
most  restful  of  lives.  He  is  our  Father,  and  He  love's 
us,  and  He  knows  just  what  is  best,  and  therefore,  of 
course,  His  will  is  the  very  most  blessed  thing  that 
can  come  to  us  under  any  circumstances.  I  do  not 
understand  how  it  is  that  the  eyes  of  so  many  Chris¬ 
tians  have  been  blinded  to  this  fact.  But  it  really 


HOW  TO  ENTER  IN. 


49 


would  seem  as  if  God’s  own  children  were  more  afraid 
of  His  will  than  of  anything  else  in  life, —  His  lovely, 
lovable  will,  which  only  means  loving-kindnesses  and 
tender  mercies,  and  blessings  unspeakable  to  their 
souls!  I  wish  I  could  only  show  to  every  one  the  un¬ 
fathomable  sweetness  of  the  will  of  God.  Heaven  is  a 
place  of  infinite  bliss  because  His  will  is  perfectly 
done  there,  and  our  lives  share  in  this  bliss  just  in 
proportion  as  His  will  is  perfectly  done  in  them.  He 
loves  us, — loves  us,  I  say, —  and  the  will  of  love  is  al¬ 
ways  blessing  for  its  loved  one.  Some  of  us  know  what 
it  is  to  love,  and  we  know  that  could  we  only  have  our 
way,  our  beloved  ones  would  be  overwhelmed  with 
blessings.  All  that  is  good  and  sweet  and  lovely  in 
life  would  be  poured  out  upon  them  from  our  lavish 
hands,  had  we  but  the  power  to carry  out  our  will  for 
them.  And  if  this  is  the  way  of  love  with  us,  how 
much  more  must  it  be  so  with  our  God,  who  is  love 
itself!  Could  we  but  for  one  moment  get  a  glimpse 
into  the  mighty  depths  of  His  love,  our  hearts  would 
spring  out  to  meet  His  will  and  embrace  it  as  our 
richest  treasure ;  and  we  would  abandon  ourselves  to 
it  with  an  enthusiasm  of  gratitude  and  joy,  that  such 
a  wondrous  privilege  could  be  ours. 

A  great  many  Christians  seem  practically  to  think 
that  all  their  Father  in  heaven  wants  is  a  chance  to 
make  them  miserable  and  to  take  away  all  their  bless¬ 
ings  ;  and  they  imagine,  poor  souls,  that  if  they  hold 
on  to  things  in  their  own  will,  they  can  hinder  Him 
from  doing  this.  Iam  ashamed  to  write  the  words, 
yet  we  must  face  a  fact  which  is  making  wretched 
hundreds  of  lives. 

A  Christian  who  was  in  a  great  deal  of  trouble,  was 


50 


SECRET  OF  A  HAPPY  LIFE. 


recounting  to  another  Christian  the  various  efforts  he 
had  made  to  find  deliverance,  and  concluded  by  say¬ 
ing,  “  But  it  has  all  been  in  vain,  and  there  is  literally 
nothing  left  for  me  to  do  now  but  to  trust  the  Lord.” 

‘‘Alas!  ”  exclaimed  his  friend  in  a  toneof  the  deepest 
commiseration,  as  though  no  greater  risk  were  possi¬ 
ble, — ‘‘Alas!  has  it  come  to  that ?” 

A  Christian  lady  who  had  this  feeling  was  once  ex¬ 
pressing  to  a  friend  how  impossible  she  found  it  to 
say,  ‘‘Thy  will  be  done,”  and  how  afraid  she  should 
be  to  do  it.  She  was  the  mother  of  an  only  little  boy, 
who  was  the  heir  to  a  great  fortune,  and  the  idol  of 
her  heart.  After  she  had  stated  her  difficulties  fully, 
her  friend  said,  “Suppose  your  little  Charley  should 
come  running  to  you  to-morrow  and  say,  ‘Mother,*  I 
have  made  up  my  mind  to  let  you  have  your  own  way 
with  me  from  this  time  forward.  I  am  always  going 
to  obey  you,  and  I  want  you  to  do  just  whatever  you 
think  best  with  me.  I  will  trust  your  love.’  How 
would  you  feel  towards  him  ?  Would  you  say  to  j^our- 
self,  ‘Ah,  now  I  shall  have  a  chance  to  make  Charley 
miserable.  I  will  take  away  all  his  pleasures,  and  fill 
his  life  with  every  hard  and  disagreeable  thing  that  I 
can  find.  I  will  compel  him  to  do  just  the  things  that 
are  the  most  difficult  for  him  to  do,  and  will  give  him 
all  sorts  of  impossible  commands.’  ”  “  Oh,  no,  no,  no !  ” 
exclaimed  the  indignant  mother.  “You  know  I  would 
not.  You  know  I  would  hug  him  to  my  heart  and 
cover  him  with  kisses,  and  would  hasten  to  fill  his 
life  with  all  that  was  sweetest  and  best.”  “And  are 
you  more  tender  and  more  loving  than  God?  ”  asked 
her  friend.  “  Ah,  no !  ”  was  the  reply ;  “I  see  my  mis¬ 
take.  Of  course  I  must  n  ot  be  any  more  afraid  of  say- 


HOW  TO  ENTER  IN. 


51 


ing,  ‘Thy  will  be  done,’  to  my  Heavenly  Father,  than 
I  would  want  my  Charley  to  be  of  say-ing  it  to  me.” 

Better  and  sweeter  than  health,  or  friends,  or  money, 
or  fame,  or  ease,  or  prosperity,  is  the  adorable -will  of 
our  God.  It  gilds  the  darkest  hours  with  a  divine 
halo,  and  sheds  brightest  sunshine  on  the  gloomiest 
paths.  He  always  reigns  who  has  made  it  his  king¬ 
dom,  and  nothing  can  go  amiss  to  him.  Surely,  then, 
it  is  only  a  glorious  privilege  that  is  opening  before 
you,  when  I  tell  you  that  the  first  step  you  must  take 
in  order  to  enter  into  the  life  hid  with  Christ  in  God, 
is  that  of  entire  consecration.  I  beg  of  you  not  to 
look  at  it  as  a  hard  and  stern  demand.  You  must  do 
it  gladly,  thankfully,  enthusiastically.  You  must  go  in 
on  what  I  call  the  privilege  side  of  consecration;  and 
I  can  assure  you,  from  the  universal  testimony  of  all 
who  have  tried  it,  that  you  will  find  it  the  happiest 
place  yrou  have  ever  entered  yet. 

Faith  is  the  next  thing  after  surrender.  Faith  is 
an  absolutely  necessary  element  in  the  reception  of 
any  gift;  for  let  our  friends  give  a  thing  to  us  ever 
so  fully,  it  is  not  really  otirs  until  we  believe  it  has 
been  given,  and  claim  it  as  our  own.  Above  all,  this 
is  true  in  gifts  which  are  purely  mental  or  spiritual. 
Love  may  be  lavished  upon  us  by  another  without 
stint  or  measure,  but  until  we  believe  that  we  are 
loved,  it  never  really  becomes  ours. 

I  suppose  most  Christians  understand  this  principle 
in  reference  to  the  matter  of  their  forgiveness.  They 
know  that  the  forgiveness  of  sins  through  Jesus  might 
have  been  preached  to  them  forever,  but  it  would 
never  really  have  become  theirs  until  theyr  believed  this 
preaching,  and  claimed  the  forgiveness  as  their  own. 


52 


SECRET  OF  A  HAPPY  LIFE. 


But  when  it  comes  to  living  the  Christian  life,  they 
lose  sight  of  this  principle,  and  think  that,  having  been 
saved  b\r  faith,  they  are  now  to  live  by  works  and 
efforts ;  and  instead  of  continuing  to  receive,  they  are 
now  to  begin  to  do.  This  makes  our  declaration  that 
the  life  hid  with  Christ  in  God  is  to  be  entered  by 
faith,  seem  perfectly  unintelligible  to  them.  And  yet 
it  is  plainly  declared,  that,  “as  we  have  received  Christ 
Jesus  the  Lord,  so  we  are  to  walk  in  Him.”  We 
received  Him  Iz^faitf^and  by  faith  alone;  therefore  we 
are  to  walk  in  Him  by  faith,  and  by  faith  alone.  And 
the  faith  by  which  we  enter  into  this  hidden  life  is 
just  the  same  as  the  faith  by  which  we  were  trans¬ 
lated  out  of  the  kingdom  of  darkness  into  the  kingdom 
of  God’s  dear  Son,  only  it  la}^  hold  of  a  different 
thing.  Then  we  believed  that  Jesus  was  our  Saviour 
from  the  guilt  of  sin,  and  according  to  our  faith  it 
was  unto  us;  now  we  must  believe  that  He  is  our 
Saviour  from  the  power  of  sin,  and  according  to  our 
faith  it  shall  be  unto  us.  Then  we  trusted  Him  for 
forgiveness,  and  it  became  ours;  now  we  must  trust 
Him  for  righteousness,  and  it  shall  become  ours  also. 
Then  we  took  Him  as  a  Saviour  in  the  future  from 
the  penalties  of  our  sins;  now  we  must  take  Him 
as  a  Saviour  in  the  present  from  the  bondage  of  our 
sins.  Then  He  was  our  Redeemer;  now  He  is  to  be 
our  Life.  Then  He  lifted  us  out  of  the  pit;  now  He 
is  to  .seat  vis  in  heavenly  places  with  Himself. 

I  mean  all  this,  of  course,  experimentally  and  practi¬ 
cally.  Theologically  and  judicially  I  know  that  every 
believer  has  everything  as  soon  as  he  is  converted; 
but  experimentally  nothing  is  his  until  by  faith  he 
claims  it.  “Every  place  that  the  sole  of  your  foot 


HOW  TO  ENTER  IN. 


53 


shall  tread  upon,  that  have  I  given  unto  you.”  God 
“hath  blessed  us  with  all  spiritual  blessings  in  heav¬ 
enly  places  in  Christ;’’  but  until  we  set  the  foot  of 
faith  upon  them,  they  do  not  practically  become  ours. 
“According  to  our  faith,”  is  always  the  limit  and  the 
rule. 

But  this  faith  of  which  I  am  speaking,  must  be  a 
present  faith.  No  faith  that  is  exercised  in  the  future 
tense  amounts  to  anything.  A  man  may  believe  for¬ 
ever  that  his  sins  will  be  forgiven  at  some  future  time, 
and  he  will  never  find  peace.  He  has  to  come  to  the 
no  w  belief,  and  say  by  a  present  appropriating  faith, 
“My  sins  are  now  forgiven,”  before  his  soul  can  be 
at  rest.  And,  similarly,  no  faith  that  looks  for  a 
future  deliverance  from  the  power  of  sin,  will  ever  lead 
a  soul  into  the  life  we  are  describing.  The  enemy 
delights  in  this  future  faith,  for  he  knows  it  is  power¬ 
less  to  accomplish  any  practical  results.  But  he  trem¬ 
bles  and  flees  when  the  soul  of  the  believer  dares  to 
claim  a  present  deliverance,  and  to -reckon  itself  now 
to  be  free  from  his  power. 

Perhaps  no  four  words  in  the  language  have  more 
meaning  in  them  than  the  following,  which  I  would 
have  you  repeat  over  and  over  with  your  voice  and 
with  your  soul,  emphasizing  each  time  a  different 
word :  — 

Jesus  saves  me  now.  —  It  is  He. 

Jesus  saves  me  now.  —  It  is  His  work  to  save. 

Jesus  saves  me  now.  —  I  am  the  one  to  be  saved. 

Jesus  saves  me  now .  —  He  is  doing  it  every  moment. 

To  sum  up,  then.  In  order  to  enter  into  this  blessed 
interior  life  of  rest  and  triumph,  you  have  two  steps 
to  take, — first,  entire  abandonment;  and  second, 


54 


'  SECRET  OF  A  HAPPY  LIFE. 


absolute  faith.  No  matter  what  may  be  the  complica¬ 
tions  of  your  peculiar  experience,  no  matter  what  your 
difficulties,  or  your  surroundings,  or  your  “  peculiar 
temperament,”  these  two  steps,  definitely  taken  and 
unwaveringly  persevered  in,  will  certainly  bring  you 
out  sooner  or  later  into  the  green  pastures  and  still 
waters  of  this  life  hid  with  Christ  in  God.  You  may 
be  perfectly  sure  of  this.  And  if  you  will  let  every 
other  consideration  go,  and  simply  devote  your  atten¬ 
tion  to  these  two  points,  and  be  very  clear  and  definite 
about  them,  your  progress  will  be  rapid,  and  your  soul 
will  reach  its  desired  haven  far  sooner  than  you  can 
now  think  possible. 

Shall  I  repeat  the  steps,  that  there  may  be  no  mis¬ 
take?  You  are  a  child  of  God,  and  long  to  please 
Him.  You  love  your  divine  Master,  and  are  sick 
and  weary  of  the  sin  that  grieves  Him.  You  long  to 
be  delivered  from  its  power.  Everything  you  have 
hitherto  tried  has  failed  to  deliver  you;  and  now,  in 
your  despair,  you  are  asking  if  it  can  indeed  be,  as 
these  happy  people  say,  that  Jesus  is  able  and  willing 
to  deliver  you.  Surely  you  must  know  in  your  very 
soul  that  He  is,  —  that  to  save  vou  out  of  the  hand 
of  all  your  enemies  is,  in  fact,  just  the  very  thing  He 
came  to  do.  Then  trust  Him.  Commit  your  case  to 
Him  in  an  absolute  unreserve,  and  believe  that  He 
undertakes  it;  and  at  once,  knowing  what  he  is  and 
what  He  has  said,  claim  that  He  does  even  now  save 
you.  Just  as  you  believed  at  first  that  He  delivered 
you  from  the  guilt  of  sin  because  He  said  it,  so  now 
believe  that  He  delivers  you  from  the  power  of  sin 
because  He  says  it.  Let  your  faith  now  lay  hold  of  a 
new  power  in  Christ.  You  have  trusted  Him  as  your 


HOW  TO  ENTER  IN. 


55 


dying  Saviour;  now  trust  Him  as  your  living  Saviour, 
ust  as  much  as  He  came  to  deliver  you  from  future 
punishment,  did  He  also  come  to  deliver  you  from 
present  bondage.  Just  as  truly  as  He  came  to  bear 
your  stripes  for  you,  has  He  come  to  live  your  life  for 
you.  You  are  as  utterly  powerless  in  the  one  case  as  in 
the  other.  You  could  as  easily  have  got  yourself  rid  of 
your  own  sins,  as  you  could  now  accomplish  for  your¬ 
self  practical  righteousness.  Christ,  and  Christ  only, 
must  do  both  for  you ;  and  your  part  in  both  cases  is 
simply  to  give  the  thing  to  Him  to  do,  and  then 
believe  that  He  does  it. 

A  lady,  now  very  eminent  in  this  life  of  trust,  when 
she  was  seeking  in  great  darkness  and  perplexity  to 
enter  in,  said  to  the  friend  who  was  trying  to  help 
her,  “You  all  say,  Abandon  yourself  and  trust,  aban¬ 
don  yourself  and  trust  ;  but  I  do  not  know  how.  I 
wish  you  would  just  do  it  out  loud,  so  that  I  may  see 
how  you  do  it.  ” 

Shall  I  do  it  out  loud  for  you  ? 

“Lord  Jesus,  I  believe  that  thou  art  able  and 
willing  to  deliver  me  from  all  the  care  and  unrest 
and  bondage  of  my  Christian  life.  I  believe  thou 
didst  die  to  set  me  free,  not  only  in  the  future,  but 
now  and  here.  I  believe  thou  art  stronger  than  sin, 
and  that  thou  canst  keep  me,  even  me,  in  my  extreme 
of  weakness,  from  falling  into  its  snares  or  yielding 
obedience  to  its  commands.  And,  Lord,  I  am  going 
to  trust  thee  to  keep  me.  I  have  tried  keeping  myself, 
and  have  failed,  and  failed  most  grievously.  I  am 
absolutely  helpless.  So  now  I  will  trust  thee.  I  give 
myself  to  thee.  I  keep  back  no  reserves.  Body,  soul, 
and  spirit,  I  present  myself  to  thee,  as  a  piece  of  clay, 


56 


SECRET  OF  A  HAPPY  LIFE. 


to  be  fashioned  into  any  thing  tby  love  and  thy  wisdom 
shall  choose.  And  now  I  am  thine.  I  believe  thou 
dost  accept  that  which  I  present  to  thee;  I  believe  that 
this  poor,  weak,  foolish  heart  has  been  taken  posses¬ 
sion  of  by  thee,  and  that  thou  hast  even  at  this  very 
moment  begun  to  work  in  me  to  will  and  to  do  of  thy 
good  pleasure.  I  trust  thee  utterly ,  and  I  trust  thee 
now.” 

A  man  was  obliged  to  descend  into  a  deep  well  by 
sliding  down  a  fixed  rope  which  was  supposed  to  be  of 
ample  length.  But  to  his  dismay  he  came  to  the  end 
of  it  before  his  feet  had  touched  the  bottom.  He  had 
not  the  strength  to  climb  up  again,  and  to  let  go  and 
drop  seemed  to  him  but  to  be  dashed  to  pieces  in  the 
depths  below.  He  held  on  until  his  strength  was 
utterly  exhausted,  and  then  dropped,  as  he  thought, 
to  his  death.  He  fell— just  three  inches — and  found 
himself  safe  on  the  rock  bottom. 

Are  you  afraid  to  take  this  step  ?  Does  it  seem  too 
sudden,  too  much  like  a  leap  in  the  dark  ?  Do  you  not 
know  that  the  step  of  faith  always  “falls  on  the  seem¬ 
ing  void,  but  finds  the  rock  beneath  ?  ”  If  ever  you  are 
to  enter  this  glorious  land,  flowing  with  milk  and 
honey,  you  must  sooner  or  later  step  into  the  brim¬ 
ming  waters,  for  there  is  no  other  path ;  and  to  do  it 
now,  may  save  you  months  and  even  years  of  disap¬ 
pointment  and  grief.  Hear  the  word  of  the  Lord, — 

“Have  not  I  commanded  thee?  Be  strong  and  of 
a  good  courage;  be  not  afraid,  neither  be  thou  dis¬ 
mayed  :  for  the  Lord  thy  God  is  with  the,  whitherso¬ 
ever  thou  goest.” 


Part  II. 

Difficulties. 


CHAPTER  V. 


DIFFICULTIES  CONCERNING  CONSECRATION. 

IT  is  very  important  that  Christians  should  not  be 
ignorant  of  the  temptations  that  seem  to  stand 
ready  to  oppose  every  onward  step  of  their  progress 
heavenward,  and  that  are  especially  active  when  the 
soul  is  awakened  to  a  hunger  and  thirst  after  right¬ 
eousness,  and  begins  to  reach  out  after  the  fulness 
that  is  ours  in  Christ. 

One  of  the  greatest  of  these  temptations  is  a  diffi- 
cult}^  concerning  consecration.  The  seeker  after  holi¬ 
ness  is  told  that  he  must  consecrate  himself,  and  he 
endeavors  to  do  so.  But  at  once  he  meets  with  a 
difficulty.  He  has  done  it  as  he  thinks,  and  yet  he 
finds  no  difference  in  his  experience;  nothing  seems 
changed,  as  he  has  been  led  to  expect  it  would  be,  and 
he  is  completely  baffled,  and  asks  the  question  almost 
despairingly,  “How  am  I  to  know  when  I  am  conse¬ 
crated  ?  ” 

The  one  chief  temptation  that  meets  the  soul  at  this 
juncture  is  the  same  that  assaults  it  all  along  the 
pathway,  at  every  step  of  its  progress;  namely,  the 
question  as  to  feelings.  We  cannot  believe  we  are  con¬ 
secrated  until  we  feel  that  we  are:  and  because  we  do  not 
feel  that  God  has  taken  us  in  hand,  we  cannot  believe 
that  He  has.  As  usual,  we  put  feeling  first,  and  faith 


60 


SECRET  OF  A  HAPPY  LIFE. 


second,  and  the  fact  last  of  all.  Now,  God’s  invari¬ 
able  rule  in  everything  is,  fact  first,  faith  second,  and 
feeling  last  of  all;  and  it  is  striving  against  the  inew 
itable  when  we  seek  to  change  this  order. 

The  way,  then,  to  meet  this  temptation  in  reference 
to  consecration,  is  simply  to  take  God’s  side  in  the 
matter,  and  to  adopt  His  order,  by  putting  faith  before 
feeling.  Give  yourself  to  the  Lord  definitely  and  fully, 
according  to3^our  present  light,  asking  the  Holy  Spirit 
to  show  you  all  that  is  contrary  to  Him,  either  in  your 
heart  or  life.  If  He  shows  you  anything,  give  it 
to  the  Lord  immediately,  and  say  in  reference  to  it, 
“Thy  will  be  done.”  If  he  shows  you  nothing,  then 
you  must  believe  that  there  is  nothing,  and  must  con¬ 
clude  that  you  have  given  Him  all.  Then  recognize 
that  it  must  be  the  fact,  that,  when  you  give  yourself 
to  God,  He  accepts  you;  and  at  once  let  your  faith 
take  hold  of  this  fact.  Begin  to  believe,  and  hold  on 
to  it  steadfastly,  that  He  has  taken  that  which  you 
have  surrendered  to  Him.  You  positively  must  not 
wait  to  feel  either  that  j^ouhave  given  yourself,  or  that 
God  has  taken  you.  You  must  simply  believe  it,  and 
reckon  it  to  be  the  case.  And  if  you  are  steadfast  in 
this  reckoning,  sooner  or  later  the  feeling  will  come, 
and  you  will  realize  that  it  is  indeed  a  blessed  fact  that 
you  are  wholly  the  Lord’s. 

If  you  were  to  give  an  estate  to  a  friend,  you  would 
have  to  give  it,  and  he  would  have  to  receive  it,  by 
faith.  An  estate  is  not  a  thing  that  can  be  picked  up 
and  handed  over  to  another;  the  gift  of  it  and  its 
reception  are  altogether  a  transaction  by  word  and  on 
paper,  and  therefore  one  of  faith.  Now,  if  you  should 
give  an  estate  one  day  to  a  friend,  and  then  should  go 


CONSECRATION. 


61 


away  and  wonder  whether  you  really  had  given  it, 
and  whether  he  actually  had  taken  it  and  considered 
it  his  own,  and  should  feel  it  necessary  to  go  the  next 
day  and  renew  the  gift ;  and  if  on  the  third  day  you 
should  still  feel  a  similar  uncertainty  about  it,  and 
should  again  go  and  renew  the  gift ;  and  on  the  fourth 
day  go  through  a  like  process,  and  so  on,  day  after  day, 
for  months  and  years, —  what  would  yourfriend  think, 
and  what  at  last  would  be  the  condition  of  your  own 
mind  in  reference  to  it  ?  Your  friend  would  certainly 
begin  to  doubt  whether  you  ever  had  intended  to 
give  it  to  him  at  all,  and  you  yourself  would  be  in 
such  hopeless  perplexity  about  it,  that  you  would  not 
know  whether  the  estate  was  yours  or  his,  or  whose 
it  was. 

Now,  is  not  this  very  much  the  way  in  which  you 
have  been  acting  toward  God  in  this  matter  of  con¬ 
secration?  You  have  given  yourself  to  Him  over  and 
over  daily,  perhaps  for  months,  but  you  have  invaria¬ 
bly  come  away  from  your  seasons  of  consecration 
wondering  whether  you  really  have  given  yourself 
after  all,  and  whether  He  has  taken  you  ;  and  because 
you  have  not  felt  any  change,  you  have  concluded  at 
last,  after  many  painful  tossings,  that  the  thing  has 
not  been  done.  Do  you  know,  dear  believer,  that  this 
sort  of  perplexity  will  last  forever,  unless  you  cut  it 
short  by  faith  ?  You  must  come  to  the  point  of  reck¬ 
oning  the  matter  to  be  an  accomplished  and  settled 
thing,  and  must  leave  it  there,  before  you  cap  possi¬ 
bly  expect  any  change  of  feeling  whatever. 

The  Levitical  law  of  offerings  to  the  Lord  settles 
this  as  a  primary  fact,  that  everything  which  is  given 
to  Him  becomes,  by  that  very  act,  something  holy,  set 


62 


SECRET  OF  A  HAPPY  LIFE. 


apart  from  all  other  things,  something  that  cannot 
without  sacrilege,  be  put  to  any  other  uses.  “Not¬ 
withstanding,  no  devoted  thing  that  a  man  shall  de- 
*  vote  unto  the  Lord  of  all  that  he  hath,  both  of  man 
and  beast,  and  of  the  field  of  his  possession,  shall  be 
sold  or  redeemed ;  every  devoted  thing  is  most  hoty 
unto  the  Lord.”  Having  once  given  it  to  the  Lord, 
the  devoted  thing  henceforth  was  reckoned  by  all  Is¬ 
rael  as  being  the  Lord’s,  and  no  one  dared  to  stretch 
forth  a  hand  to  retake  it.  The  giver  might  have  made 
his  offering  very  grudgingly  and  half-heartedly,  but, 
having  made  it,  the  matter  was  taken  out  of  his  hands 
altogether,  and  the  devoted  thing,  b}r  God’s  own  law, 
became  “most  holy  unto  the  Lord.”  It  was  not  made 
holy  by  the  state  of  mind  of  the  giver,  but  by  the  holi¬ 
ness  of  the  Divine  receiver.  “The  altar  sanctifies  the 
gift ;  ”  and  an  offering,  once  laid  upon  the  altar,  from 
that  moment  belonged  to  the  Lord.  I  can  imagine 
an  offerer,  after  he  had  deposited  a  gift,  beginning  to 
search  his  heart  as  to  his  sincerity  and  honesty  in 
doing  it,  and  coming  back  to  the  priest  to  say  that  he 
was  afraid,  after  all,  he  had  not  given  it  rightly,  or  had 
not  been  perfectly  sincere  in  giving  it.  I  feel  sure 
the  priest  would  have  silenced  him  at  once,  saying, 
“As  to  how  you  gave  your  offering,  or  what  were  your 
motives  in  giving  it,  I  do  not  know.  The  facts  are 
that  you  did  give  it,  and  that  it  is  the  Lord’s,  for 
every  devoted  thing  is  most  holy  unto  Him.  It  is  too 
late  to  recall  the  transaction  now.”  And  not  only 
the  priest,  but  all  Israel,  would  have  been  aghast  at 
the  man,  who,  having  once  given  his  offering,  should 
have  reached  out  his  hand  to  take  it  back.  Yet,  day 
after  day,  earnest-hearted  Christians,  with  no  thought 


CONSECRATION , 


63 


of  the  sacrilege  they  are  committing,  are  guilty  in 
their  own  experience  of  a  similar  act,  by  giving  them¬ 
selves  to  the  Lord  in  solemn  consecration,  and  then, 
through  unbelief,  taking  back  that  which  they  have 
given. 

Because  God  is  not  visibty  present  to  the  eye,  it  is 
difficult  to  feel  that  a  transaction  with  Him  is  real.  I 
suppose  that  if,  when  we  made  our  acts  of  consecra¬ 
tion,  we  could  actually  see  Him  present  with  us,  we 
should  feel  it  to  be  a  very  real  thing,  and  would 
realize  that  we  had  given  our  word  to  Him,  and  could 
not  dare  to  take  it  back,  no  matter  how  much  we 
might  wish  to  do  so.  Such  a  transaction  would  have 
to  us  the  binding  power  that  a  spoken  promise  to  an 
earthly  friend  always  has  to  a  man  of  honor.  What 
we  need,  therefore,  is  to  see  that  God’s  presence  is  a 
certain  fact  always,  and  that  every  act  of  our  soul  is 
done  before  Him,  and  that  a  word  spoken  in  prayer  is 
as  really  spoken  to  Him  as  if  our  eyes  could  see  Him 
and  our  hands  could  touch  Him.  Then  we  shall  cease 
to  have  such  vague  conceptions  of  our  relations  with 
Him,  and  shall  feel  the  binding  force  of  every  word  we 
say  in  His  presence. 

I  know  some  will  say  here,  “Ah,  yes;  but  if  He 
would  only  speak  to  me,  and  say  that  He  took  me 
when  I  gave  myself  to  Him,  I  would  have  no  trouble 
then  in  believing  it.”  No,  of  course  you  would  not; 
but  then  where  would  be  the  room  for  faith  ?  Sight  is 
not  faith,  and  hearing  is  not  faith,  neither  is  feeling 
faith;  but  believing  when  we  can  neither  see,  hear,  1102 
feel,  is  faith;  and  everywhere  the  Bible  tells  us  our 
salvation  is  to  be  by  faith.  Therefore  we  must  believe 
before  we  feel,  and  often  against  our  feelings,  if  we 


64 


SECRET  OF  A  HAPPY  LIFE. 


would  honor  God  by  our  faith.  It  is  always  he  that 
believeth  who  has  the  witness,  not  he  that  doubteth. 
But  how  can  we  doubt,  since,  by  His  very  command 
to  us  to  present  ourselves  to  Him  a  living  sacrifice,  He 
has  pledged  Himself  to  receive  us?  I  cannot  conceive 
of  an  honorable  man  asking  another  to  give  him  a 
thing  which,  after  all,  he  was  doubtful  about  taking; 
still  less  can  I  conceive  of  a  loving  parent  acting  so 
toward  a  beloved  child.  “My  son,  give  me  thy 
heart/’  is  a  sure  warrant  for  knowing  that  the  mo¬ 
ment  the  heart  is  given,  it  will  be  taken  by  the  One 
who  has  commanded  the  gift.  We  may,  nay  we  must, 
feel  the  utmost  confidence,  then,  that  when  we  sur¬ 
render  ourselves  to  the  Lord,  according  to  His  own 
command,  He  does  then  and  there  receive  us,  and  from 
that  moment  we  are  His.  A  real  transaction  has 
taken  place,  which  cannot  be  violated  without  dis¬ 
honor  on  our  part,  and  which  we  know  will  not  be 
violated  by  him. 

In  Deut.  xxvi.  17-19,  we  see  God’s  way  of  working 
under  these  circumstances.  “Thou  hast  avouched 
the  Lord  this  day  to  be  thy  God,  and  to  walk  in  His 
ways,  and  to  keep  his  statutes,  and  His  command 
ments,  and  His  judgements,  and  to  hearken  unto  His 
voice;  and  the  Lord  hath  avouched  thee  this  day  to 
be  His  peculiar  people,  as  He  hath  promised  thee, 
and  that  thou  shouldst  keep  all  His  commandments; 

.  and  that  thou  mayest  be  an  holy  people  unto 
the  Lord  thy  God,  as  He  hath  spoken.” 

When  we  avouch  the  Lord  to  be  our  God,  and  that 
we  will  walk  in  His  ways  and  keep  His  command¬ 
ments,  He  avouches  us  to  be  His,  and  that  we  shall 
keep  all  His  commandments.  And  from  that  moment 


CONSECRATION. 


/ 


65 


He  takes  possession  of  us.  This  has  always  been  His 
principle  of  working,  and  it  continues  to  be  so.  “Every 
devoted  thing  is  most  holy  to  the  Lord.”  This  is  so 
plain  as  not  to  admit  of  a  question. 

But  if  the  soul  still  feels  in  doubt  or  difficulty,  let  me 
refer  you  to  a  New  Testament  declaration  which 
approaches  the  subject  from  a  different  side,  but 
which  settles  it,  I  think,  quite  as  definitely.  It  is  in 
1  John  v.  14,  15,  and  reads,  “And  this  is  the  confi¬ 
dence  that  we  have  in  Him,  that,  if  we  ask  anything 
according  to  His  will,  He  heareth  us ;  and  if  we  know 
that  He  hear  us,  whatsoever  we  ask,  we  know  that  we 
have  the  petitions  that  we  desired  of  Him.”  Is  it 
according  to  His  will  that  you  should  be  entirely  sur¬ 
rendered  to  Him?  There  can  be,  of  course,  but  one 
answer  to  this,  for  He  has  commanded  it.  Is  it  not 
also  according  to  His  will  that  He  should  work  in  “you 
to  will  and  to  do  of  His  good  pleasure?  This  ques¬ 
tion  also  can  have  but  one  answer,  for  He  has  de¬ 
clared  it  to  be  His  purpose.  You  know,  then,  that 
these  things  are  according  to  His  will ;  therefore,  on 
God’s  own  word,  yon  are  obliged  to  know  that  He 
hears  you.  And  knowing  this  much,  you  are  com¬ 
pelled  to  go  farther,  and  know  that  you  have  the 
petitions  that  you  have  desired  of  Him.  That  you 
have ,  I  say, — not  will  have,  or  may  have,  but  have 
now  in  actual  possession.  It  is  thus  that  we  “  obtain 
promises”  by  faith.  It  is  thus  that  we  have  “access 
by  faith”  into  the  grace  that  is  given  us  in  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  It  is  thus,  and  thus  only,  that  we  come 
to  know  our  hearts  “purified  by  faith,  ”  and  are  ena¬ 
bled  to  live  by  faith,  to  stand  by  faith,  to  walk  by 
faith. 


66 


SECRET  OF  A  HAPPY  LIFE. 


I  desire  to  make  this  subject  so  plain  and  practical 
that  no  one  need  have  any  further  difficulty  about  it, 
and  therefore  I  will  repeat  again  just  what  must  be 
the  acts  of  your  soul,  in  order  to  bring  you  out  of  this 
difficulty  about  consecration. 

I  suppose  that  you  have  trusted  the  Lord  Jesus  for 
the  forgiveness  of  your  sins,  and  know  something 
of  what  it  is  to  belong  to  the  family  of  God,  and  to 
be  made  an  heir  of  God  through  faith  in  Christ. 
And  now  you  feel  springing  up  in  your  heart  the 
longing  to  be  conformed  to  the  image  of  your  Lord. 
In  order  for  this,  you  know  there  must  be  an  en¬ 
tire  surrender  of  yourself  to  Him,  that  He  ma y 
work  in  you  all  the  good  pleasure  of  His  will;  and 
you  have  tried  over  and  over  to  do  it,  but  hitherto 
without  any  apparent  success.  At  this  point  it  is 
that  I  desire  to  help  you.  What  you  must  do  now  is 
to  come  once  more  to  Him,  in  a  surrender  of  your 
whole  self  to  His  will,  as  complete  as  you  know  how 
to  make  it.  You  must  ask  Him  to  reveal  to  you,  by 
His  Spirit,  any  hidden  rebellion ;  and  if  He  reveals 
nothing,  then  you  must  believe  that  there  is  nothing, 
and  that  the  surrender  is  complete.  This  must,  then, 
be  considered  a  settled  matter;  you  have  wholly 
yielded  y ourself  to  the  Lord,  and  from  henceforth 
you  do  not  in  any  sense  belong  to  yourself;  you  must 
never  even  so  much  as  listen  to  a  suggestion  to  the 
contrary^.  If  the  temptation  comes  to  wonder  whether 
you  reallyr  have  completely  surrendered  yourself,  meet 
it  with  an  assertion  that  you  have.  Do  not  even 
argue  the  matter.  Repel  any  such  idea  instantly,  and 
with  decision.  You  meant  it  then,  you  mean  it  now, 
you  have  really  done  it.  Your  emotions  may  clamor 


CONSECRATION. 


67 


against  the  surrender,  but  your  will  must  hold  firm. 
It  is  your  purpose  God  looks  at,  not  your  feelings 
about  that  purpose;  and  your  purpose,  or  will,  is 
therefore  the  only  thing  you  need  to  attend  to. 

The  surrender,  then,  having  been  made,  never  to 
be  questioned  or  recalled,  the  next  point  is  to  believe 
that  God  takes  that  which  you  have  surrendered,  and 
to  reckon  that  it  is  His.  Not  that  it  will  be  His  at 
some  future  time,  but  that  it  is  now ;  and  that  He  has 
begun  to  work  in  you  to  will  and  to  do  of  His  good 
pleasure.  And  here  you  must  rest.  There  is  nothing 
more  for  you  to  do,  except  to  be  henceforth  an  obe¬ 
dient  child;  for  you  are  the  Lord’s  now,  absolutely 
and  entirely  in  His  hands,  and  He  has  undertaken 
the  whole  care  and  management  and  forming  of  you, 
and  will,  according  to  His  word,  “work  in  you  that 
which  is  well-pleasing  in  His  sight  through  Jesus 
Christ.”  But  you  must  hold  steadily  here.  If  you 
begin  to  question  your  surrender,  or  God’s  acceptance 
of  it,  then  your  wavering  faith  will  produce  a  waver¬ 
ing  experience,  and  He  cannot  work  in  you  to  do  His 
will.  But  while  you  trust,  He  works;  and  the  result 
of  His  working  always  is  to  change  you  into  the 
image  of  Christ,  from  glory  to  glory,  by  His  mighty 
Spirit. 

Do  you,  then,  now  at  this  moment,  surrender  your¬ 
self  wholly  to  Him?  You  answer,  Yes.  Then,  my 
dear  friend,  begin  at  once  to  reckon  that  you  are  His, 
that  He  has  taken  you,  and  that  He  is  working  in  you 
to  will  and  to  do  of  His  good  pleasure.  And  keep  on 
reckoning  this.  You  will  find  it  a  great  help  to  put 
your  reckoning  into  words,  and  say  over  and  over 
to  yourself  and  to  your  God,  “Lord,  I  am  thine;  I 


68 


SECRET  OF  A  HAPPY  LIFE. 


do  yield  myself  up  entirely  to  thee,  and  I  believe 
that  thou  dost  take  me.  I  leave  myself  with  thee. 
Work  in  me  all  the  good  pleasure  of  thy  will,  and  I 
will  only  lie  still  in  thy  hands  and  trust  thee.  ” 

Make  this  a  daily,  definite  act  of  your  will,  and 
many  times  a  day  recur  to  it,  as  being  your  continual 
attitude  before  the  Lord.  Confess  it  to  yourself. 
Confess  it  to  your  God.  Confess  it  to  your  friends. 
Avouch  the  Lord  to  be  your  God,  continually  and  un¬ 
waveringly,  and  declare  your  purpose  of  walking  in 
His  ways  and  keeping  His  statutes ;  and  sooner  or 
later,  you  will  find  in  practical  experience  that  He  has 
avouched  you  to  be  one  of  His  peculiar  people,  and 
will  enable  you  to  keep  all  His  commandments,  and 
that  you  are  being  made  into  “an  holy  people  unto 
the  Lord,  as  He  hath  spoken.  ” 


“For  thou  art  making  me.  I  thank  thee,  Sire. 

What  thou  hast  done  and  doest,  thou  knowest  well; 
And  I  will  help  thee:  gently  in  thy  fire 
I  will  lie  burning;  on  thy  potter’s  wheel 
I  will  whirl  patient,  though  my  brain  should  reel ; 

Thy  grace  shall  be  enough  my  grief  to  quell , 

And  growing  strength  perfect  through  weakness  dire." 


FAITH. 


69 


CHAPTER  VI. 

DIFFICULTIES  CONCERNING  FAITH. 

JT^HE  next  step  after  consecration,  in  the  soul’s 
X  progress  out  of  the  wilderness  of  a  failing  Chris¬ 
tian  experience  into  the  land  that  floweth  with  milk 
and  honey,  is  that  of  faith.  And  here,  as  in  the  first 
step,  the  soul  encounters  at  once  certain  forms  ol 
difficulty  and  hindrance. 

The  child  of  God,  whose  eyes  have  been  opened  to 
see  the  fullness  there  is  in  Jesus  for  him,  and  whose 
heart  has  been  made  hungry  to  appropriate  that  full¬ 
ness,  is  met  with  the  assertion,  on  the  part  of  every 
teacher  to  whom  he  applies,  that  this  fulness  is  only 
to  be  received  by  faith.  But  the  subject  of  faith  is 
involved  in  such  a  hopeless  mystery  to  his  mind,  that 
this  assertion,  instead  of  throwing  light  upon  the  way 
of  entrance,  only  seems  to  make  it  more  difficult  and 
involved  than  ever. 

“Of  course  it  is  to  be  by  faith,’’  he  says,  “for  I 
know  that  everything  in  the  Christian  life  is  by  faith. 
But  that  is  just  what  makes  it  so  hard,  for  I  have  no 
faith,  and  I  do  not  even  know  what  it  is,  nor  how  to 
get  it.  ’’  And,  thus,  baffled  at  the  very  outset  by  this 
insuperable  difficulty,  he  is  plunged  into  darkness, 
and  almost  despair. 

This  trouble  arises  from  the  fact  that  the  subject  of 
faith  is  very  generally  misunderstood ;  for,  in  reality, 


70 


SECRET  OF  A  HAPPY  LIFE. 


faith  is  the  simplest  and  plainest  thing  in  the  world, 
and  the  most  easy  of  exercise. 

Your  idea  of  faith,  I  suppose,  has  been  something 
like  this.  You  have  looked  upon  it  as  in  some  way  a 
sort  of  thing— t  ither  a  religious  exercise  of  soul,  or  an 
inward,  gracious  disposition  of  heart;  something  tan¬ 
gible,  in  fact,  which,  when  you  have  secured  it,  you 
can  look  at  and  rejoice  over,  and  use  as  a  passport 
to  God’s  favor,  or  a  coin  with  which  to  purchase 
His  gifts.  And  you  have  been  praying  for  faith,  ex¬ 
pecting  all  the  while  to  get  something  like  this ;  and 
never  having  received  any  such  thing,  you  are  insist¬ 
ing  upon  it  that  you  have  no  faith.  Now  faith,  in  fact, 
is  not  in  the  least  like  this.  It  is  nothing  at  all  tan¬ 
gible.  It  is  simply  believing  God ;  and,  like  sight,  it 
is  nothing  apart  from  its  object.  You  might  as  well 
shut  your  eyes  and  look  inside,  and  see  whether  you 
have  sight,  as  to  look  inside  to  discover  whether  you 
have  faith.  You  see  something,  and  thus  know  that 
you  have  sight ;  you  believe  something,  and  thus 
know  that  you  have  faith.  For  as  sight  is  only  see¬ 
ing,  so  faith  is  only  believing.  And  as  the  only  neces¬ 
sary  thing  about  sight  is  that  you  see  the  thing  as  it 
is,  so  the  only  necessary  thing  about  belief  is  that 
you  believe  the  thing  as  it  is.  The  virtue  does  not  lie 
in  your  believing,  but  in  the  thing  you  believe.  If 
you  believe  the  truth,  you  are  saved;  if  you  believe  a 
lie,  you  are  lost.  The  act  of  believing  in  both  cases 
is  the  same ;  the  things  believed  are  exactly  opposite, 
and  this  it  is  which  makes  the  mighty  difference. 
Your  salvation  comes,  not  because  your  faith  saves 
you,  but  because  it  links  you  to  the  Savior  who 
saves ;  and  your  believing  is  really  nothing  but  the  link. 


FAITH. 


71 


I  do  beg  of  you  to  recognize,  then,  the  extreme  sim¬ 
plicity  of  faith;  namely,  thatit  is  nothingmorenorless 
than  just  believing  God  when  He  says  He  either  has 
done  something  for  us,  or  will  do  it ;  and  then  trusting 
Him  to  keep  His  word.  It  is  so  simple  that  it  is  hard 
to  explain.  If  any  one  asks  me  what  it  means  to  trust 
another  to  do  a  piece  of  work  for  me,  I  can  only  an¬ 
swer  that  it  means  committing  the  work  to  that  other, 
and  leaving  it  without  anxiet}^  in  his  hands.  All  of 
us  have  many  times  trusted  very  important  affairs  to 
others  in  this  way,  and  have  felt  perfect  rest  in  thus 
trusting,  because  of  the  confidence  we  have  had  in 
those  who  have  undertaken  them.  How  constantly 
do  mothers  trust  their  most  precious  infants  to  the 
care  of  nurses,  and  feel  no  shadow  of  anxiety!  How 
.continually  we  are  all  of  us  trusting  our  health  and 
our  lives,  without  a  thought  of  fear,  to  cooks  and 
coachmen,  engine-drivers,  railway-conductors,  and  all 
sorts  of  paid  servants,  who  have  us  completely  at 
their  mercy,  and  who  could,  if  they  chose  to  do  so, 
or  even  if  they  failed  in  the  necessary  carefulness, 
plunge  us  into  misery  or  death  in  a  moment.  All  this 
we  do,  and  make  no  demur  about  it.  Upon  the  slight¬ 
est  acquaintance,  often,  we  thus  put  our  trust  in  peo¬ 
ple,  requiring  only  the  general  knowledge  of  human 
nature  and  the  common  rules  of  human  intercourse 
as  the  foundation  of  our  trust,  and  we  never  feel  as  if 
we  were  doing  anything  in  the  least  remarkable. 

You  have  done  this  yourself,  dear  reader,  and  are 
doing  it  continually.  You  could  not  live  among  your 
fellow-men  and  go  through  the  customary  routine  of 
life  a  single  day,  if  }rou  were  unable  to  trust  your  fel¬ 
low-men,  and  it  never  enters  into  your  head  to  say 


72 


SECRET  OF  A  HAPPY  LIFE. 


you  cannot.  But  yet  you  do  not  hesitate  to  say,  con 
tinually,  that  you  cannot  trust  your  God !  And  yot 
excuse  yourself  by  the  plea  that  you  are  “  a  poor  weak 
creature”  and  “have  no  faith.  ” 

I  wish  you  would  try  to  imagine  yourself  acting  in 
your  human  relations  as  you  do  in  your  spiritual  rela¬ 
tions.  Suppose  you  should  begin  to-morrow  with  the 
notion  in  your  head  that  you  could  not  trust  anybody, 
because  you  had  no  faith.  When  you  sat  down  to 
breakfast  you  would  say,  “  I  cannot  eat  anything  on 
this  table,  for  I  have  no  faith,  and  I  cannot  believe 
the  cook  has  not  put  poison  in  the  coffee,  or  that  the 
butcher  has  not  sent  home  diseased  or  unhealthy 
meat;  ”  so  you  would  go  starving  away.  When  you 
went  out  to  your  daily  avocations,  you  would  say,  “  I 
cannot  ride  in  the  railway  train,  for  I  have  no  faith, . 
and  therefore  I  cannot  trust  the  engineer,  nor  the  con¬ 
ductor,  nor  the  builders  of  the  carriages,  nor  the  man¬ 
agers  of  the  road.  ”  And  you  would  be  compelled  to 
walk  everywhere,  and  would  grow  unutterably  weary 
in  the  effort,  besides  being  actually  unable  to  reach  ' 
the  places  you  could  have  reached  in  the  train. 
When  your  friends  met  3^ou  with  any  statements,  or 
your  business  agent  with  any  accounts,  you  would 
say,  “I  am  very  sorry  that  I  cannot  believe  you,  but  I 
have  no  faith,  and  never  can  believe  anybody.”  If 
you  opened  a  newspaper,  you  would  be  forced  to  lay 
it  down  again,  saying,  “I  really  cannot  believe  a  word 
this  paper  says,  for  I  have  no  faith;  I  do  not  believe 
there  is  any  such  person  as  the  Queen,  for  I  never 
saw  her;  nor  any  such  country  as  Ireland,  for  I  was 
never  there.  I  have  no  faith,  so  of  course  I  cannot 
believe  anything  that  I  have  not  actually  felt  and 


FAITH. 


73 


touched  myself.  It  is  a  great  trial,  but  I  cannot  help 
it,  for  I  have  no  faith.  ” 

Just  picture  such  a  day  as  this,  and  see  how  dis¬ 
astrous  it  would  be  to  yourself,  and  what  utter  folly 
it  would  appear  to  any  one  who  should  watch  you 
through  the  whole  of  it.  Realize  how  your  friends 
would  feel  insulted,  and  how  your  servants  would 
refuse  to  serve  you  another  day.  And  then  ask  your¬ 
self  the  question,  if  this  want  of  faith  in  your  fellow- 
men  would  be  so  dreadful,  and  such  utter  folly,  what 
must  it  be  when  you  tell  God  that  you  have  no 
power  to  trust  Him,  nor  to  believe  His  word  ;  that  it 
is  a  great  trial,  but  you  cannot  help  it,  “  for  you  have 
no  faith.  ” 

Is  it  possible  that  you  can  trust  your  fellow-men, 
and  cannot  trust  your  God ;  that  you  can  receive 
the  “witness  of  men,”  and  cannot  receive  the  “wit¬ 
ness  of  God;”  that  you  can  believe  man’s  records, 
and  cannot  believe  God’s  record ;  that  you  can  com¬ 
mit  your  dearest  earthly  interests  to  your  weak,  fail¬ 
ing  fellow-creatures  without  a  fear,  and  are  afraid  to 
commit  your  spiritual  interests  to  the  Savior  who  laid 
down  His  life  for  you,  and  of  whom  it  is  declared  that 
He  is  “able  to  save  to  the  uttermost  all  who  come 
unto  God  by  Him.” 

Surely , surely ,  dear  believer,  you,  whose  very  name  of 
believer  implies  that  you  can  believe,  you  will  never 
again  dare  to  excuse  yourself  on  the  plea  of  having 
no  faith.  For  when  you  say  this,  you  mean  of  course 
that  you  have  no  faith  in  God,  since  you  are  not  asked 
to  have  faith  in  yourself,  and  would  be  in  a  very  wrong 
condition  of  soul  if  you  had.  Let  me  beg  of  you,  then, 
when  you  think  or  say  these  things,  always  to  complete! 


74 


SECRET  OF  A  HAPPY  LIFE. 


the  sentence,  and  say,  “I  have  no  faith  in  —  God!  I 
cannot  believe  —  God!”  and  this  I  am  sure  will  soon 
become  so  dreadful  to  you,  that  you  will  not  dare  to 
continue  it. 

But,  3^011  say,  I  cannot  believe  without  the  Holy 
Spirit.  Very  well;  will  you  conclude,  then,  that  your 
want  of  faith  is  because  of  the  failure  of  the  Holy 
Spirit  to  do  His  work?  For  if  it  is,  then  surely  you 
are  not  to  blame,  and  need  feel  no  condemnation;  and 
all  exhortations  to  3^ou  to  believe  are  useless. 

But  no  !  Do  you  not  see,  that,  in  taking  up  the  posi¬ 
tion  that  you  have  no  faith  and  cannot  believe,  you 
are  not  only  “making  God  a  liar,”  but  you  are  also 
showing  an  utter  want  of  confidencein  the  Holy  Spirit. 

For  He  is  always  ready  to  help  our  infirmities.  We 
never  have  to  wait  for  Him,  He  is  always  waiting  for 
us.  And  I  for  my  part  have  such  absolute  confidence 
in  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  in  His  being  alwa3^s  ready  to 
do  His  work,  that  I  dare  to  say  to  every  one  of  3rou, 
that  3rou  can  believe  now,  at  this  very  moment;  and 
that  if  you  do  not,  it  is  not  the  Spirit’s  fault,  but  your 
own.  Put  3'-our  will,  then,  over  on  the  believing  side. 
Sa3r,  “Lord,  I  will  believe,  I  do  believe,”  and  continue 
to  sa3r  it.  Insist  upon  believing,  in  the  face  of  every 
suggestion  of  doubt  that  intrudes  itself.  Out  of  your 
very  unbelief,  throw  yourself  unreservedly  on  the  word 
and  promises  of  God,  and  dare  to  abandon  yourself 
to  the  keeping  and  saving  power  of  the  Lord  Jesus. 
If  3rou  have  ever  trusted  a  precious  interest  in  the 
hands  of  an  earthy  friend,  I  entreat  you,  trust  your¬ 
self  and  all  your  spiritual  interests  now,  in  the  hands 
of  your  Heavenly  Friend,  and  never,  never ,  NEVER, 
allow  yourself  to  doubt  again. 


FAITH . 


75 


Remember  always  that  there  are  two  things  which 
are  more  utterly  incompatible  even  than  oil  and  water, 
and  these  two  are  trust  and  worry.  Would  you  call  it 
trust,  if  you  should  give  something  into  the  hands  of  a 
friend  to  attend  to  for  you,  and  then  should  spend 
j'our  nights  and  days  in  anxious  thought  and  worry 
as  to  whether  it  would  be  rightly  and  successfully 
done  ?  And  can  you  call  it  trust,  when  you  have  given 
the  saving  and  keeping  of  your  soul  into  the  hands  of  the 
Lord,  if  day  after  day,  and  night  after  night,  you  are 
spending  hours  of  anxious  thought  and  questionings 
about  the  matter?  When  a  believer  really  trusts 
anything,  he  ceases  to  worry  about  the  thing  he  has 
trusted.  And  when  he  worries,  it  is  a  plain  proof  that 
he  does  not  trust.  Tested  by  this  rule,  how  little 
real  trust  there  is  in  the  Church  of  Christ!  No  won¬ 
der  our  Lord  asked  the  pathetic  question,  “  When  the 
Son  of  Man  cometh,  shall  He  find  faith  on  the  earth  ?  ” 
He  will  find  plenty  of  work,  a  great  deal  of  earnestness, 
and  doubtless  many  consecrated  hearts;  but  shall  He 
find  faith,  the  one  thing  He  values  more  than  all  the 
rest?  Every  child  of  God,  in  his  own  case,  will  know 
how  to  answer  this  question.  Should  the  answer,  for 
any  of  you,  be  a  sorrowful  No,  let  me  entreat  }^ou  to 
let  this  be  the  last  time  for  such  an  answer;  and  if 
you  have  ever  known  anything  of  the  trustworthiness 
of  our  Lord,  may  you  henceforth  set  to  your  seal  that 
He  is  true,  by  the  generous  recklessness  of  your  trust 
in  Him ! 

I  remember,  very  early  in  my  Christian  life,  having 
every  tender  and  loyal  impulse  within  me  stirred  to 
the  depths  of  an  appeal  I  met  with  in  a  volume  of  old 
sermons,  to  all  who  loved  the  Lord  Jesus,  that  they 


76 


SECRET  OF  A  HAPPY  L1EE. 


should  show  to  others  how  worthy  He  was  of  being 
trusted  by  the  steadfastness  of  their  own  faith  in  Him. 
As  I  read  the  inspiring  words,  there  came  to  me  a 
sudden  glimpse  of  the  privilege  and  the  glory  of  being 
called  to  walk  in  paths  so  dark,  that  only  an  utter 
recklessness  of  trust  would  be  possible! 

“Ye  have  not  passed  this  way  heretofore,”  it  may 
be ;  but  to-day  it  is  your  happy  privilege  to  prove,  as 
never  before,  your  loyal  confidence  in  Jesus,  by  start¬ 
ing  out  with  Him  on  a  life  and  walk  of  faith,  lived, 
moment  by  moment  in  absolute  and  childlike  trust 
in  Him. 

You  have  trusted  Him  in  a  few  things,  and  He  has 
not  failed  you.  Trust  Him  now  for  everything,  and 
see  if  He  does  not  do  for  you  exceeding  abundantly, 
above  all  that  you  could  ever  have  asked  or  even 
thought,  not  according  to  your  power  or  capaeitjr, 
but  according  to  His  own  mighty  power,  working 
in  you  all  the  good  pleasure  of  His  most  blessed 
will. 

It  is  not  hard,  you  find,  to  trust  the  management  of 
the  universe,  and  of  all  the  outward  creation,  to  the 
Lord.  Can  your  case  then  be  so  much  more  com¬ 
plex  and  difficult  than  these,  that  you  need  to  be 
anxious  or  troubled  about  His  management  of  you  ? 
Away  with  such  unworthy  doubtings!  Take  your 
stand  on  the  power  and  trustworthiness  of  3^our  God, 
and  see  how  quickly  all  difficulties  will  vanish  before 
a  steadfast  determination  to  believe.  Trust  in  the 
dark,  trust  in  the  light,  trust  at  night  and  trust  in  the 
morning,  and  you  will  find  that  the  faith  that  may 
begin  perhaps  by  a  mighty  effort,  will  end,  sooner  or 
later,  by  becoming  the  easy  and  natural  habit  of  the 


FAITH . 


77 


soul.  It  is  a  law  of  the  spiritual  life  that  every  act 
of  trust  makes  the  next  act  less  difficult,  until  at 
length,  if  these  acts  are  persisted  in,  trusting  be¬ 
comes,  like  breathing,  the  natural  unconscious  action 
of  the  redeemed  soul. 

You  must  therefore  put  your  will  into  your  believing. 
Your  faith  must  not  be  a  passive  imbecility,  but  an 
active  energy.  You  may  have  to  believe  against  every 
seeming;  but  no  matter.  Set  your  face  like  a  flint  to 
say,  “I  will  believe,  and  I  know  I  shall  not  be  con¬ 
founded.”  We  are  made  “partakers  of  Christ  if  we 
hold  the  beginning  of  our  faith  steadfast  unto  the 
end.”  Hundreds  fail  just  here.  They  have  a  little 
beginning  of  faith,  but  discouragements  come,  the 
“seemings”  are  all  against  it,  their  doubts  clamor 
louder  and  louder,  and  at  last  they  let  them  in;  and 
when  doubt  comes  in  at  the  door,  trust  always  flies 
out  of  the  window. 

We  are  told  that  all  things  are  possible  to  God,  and 
that  all  things  are  possible  also  to  him  that  believ- 
eth.  Faith  has  in  times  past  “subdued  kingdoms, 
wrought  righteousness,  obtained  promises,  stopped 
the  mouths  of  lions,  quenched  the  violence  of  fire, 
escaped  the  edge  of  the  sword,  waxed  valiant  in  fight, 
turned  to  flight  the  armies  of  the  aliens;  ”  and  faith 
can  do  it  again.  For  our  Lord  Himself  says  unto  us, 
“If  ye  have  faith  as  a  grain  of  mustard  seed,  ye  shall 
say  unto  this  mountain,  Remove  hence  to  yonder 
place;  and  it  shall  remove;  and  nothing  shall  be  im¬ 
possible  unto  you.” 

If  you  are  a  child  of  God  at  all,  you  must  have  at 
least  as  much  faith  as  a  grain  of  mustard  seed,  and 
therefore  you  dare  not  say  again  that  you  “cannot 


78 


SECRET  OF  A  HAPPY  LIFE. 


trust  because  you  have  no  faith.”  Say  rather,  “  I  can 
trust  in y  Lord,  and  I  will  trust  Him ;  and  not  all  the 
powers  of  earth  or  hell  shall  be  able  to  make  me 
doubt  my  wonderful,  glorious,  faithful  Redeemer!” 

“  Faith  is  sweetest  of  worships  to  Him,  who  so  loves 
His  unbearable  splendors  in  darkness  to  hide; 

And  to  trust  to  thy  word,  dearest  Lord  !  is  true  love, 

For  those  prayers  are  most  granted  which  seem  most  denied. 

“Our  faith  throws  her  arms  around  all  thou  hast  told  her. 

And,  able  to  hold  as  much  more,  can  but  grieve. 

She  could  hold  thy  grand  self,  Lord !  if  thou  wouldst  reveal  it. 
And  love  makes  her  long  to  have  more  to  believe.” 

Let  your  faith,  then,  ‘‘throw  its  arms  around  all  God 
has  told  you,”  and  in  every  dark  hour  remember  that 
‘‘though  now  for  a  season,  if  need  be,  ye  are  in  heavi¬ 
ness  through  manifold  temptations,”  it  is  only  like 
going  through  a  tunnel.  The  sun  has  not  ceased 
shining  because  the  traveler  through  the  tunnel  has 
ceased  to  see  it;  and  the  Sun  of  righteousness  is 
still  shining,  although  you  in  your  dark  tunnel  do  not 
see  Him.  Be  patient  and  trustful,  and  wait.  This 
time  of  darkness  is  only  permitted  that  “the  trial  of 
yourfaith,  being  much  more  precious  than  of  gold  that 
perisheth,  though  it  be  tried  with  fire,  might  be  found 
unto  praise  and  honor  and  glory  at  the  appearing  of 
Jesus  Christ.” 


V 


THE  WILE 


79 


CHAPTER  VII. 


DIFFICULTIES  CONCERNING  THE  WILL. 

HEN  the  child  of  God  has,  by  entire  abandon- 


%  \  ment  and  absolute  trust,  stepped  out  of  him¬ 
self  into  Christ,  and  has  begun  to  know  something 
of  the  blessedness  of  the  life  hid  with  Christ  in 
God,  there  is  one  form  of  difficulty  which  is  espe¬ 
cially  likely  to  start  up  in  his  path.  After  the  first 
emotions  of  peace  and  rest  have  somewhat  subsided, 
or  if,  as  is  sometimes  the  case,  they  have  never 
seemed  to  come  at  all,  he  begins  to  feel  such  an  uttter 
unreality  in  the  things  he  has  been  passing  through, 
that  he  seems  to  himself  like  a  hypocrite,  when  he 
says  or  even  thinks  they  are  real.  It  seems  to  him 
that  his  belief  does  not  go  below  the  surface ;  that  it 
is  a  mere  lip-belief,  and  therefore  of  no  account,  and 
that  his  surrender  is  not  a  surrender  of  the  heart,  and 
therefore  cannot  be  acceptable  to  God.  He  is  afraid 
to  say  he  is  altogether  the  Lord’s,  for  fear  he  will  be 
telling  an  untruth;  and  yet  he  cannot  bring  himself 
to  say  he  is  not,  because  he  longs  for  it  so  intensely. 
The  difficulty  is  real  and  very  disheartening. 

But  there  is  nothing  here  which  will  not  be  very 
easily  overcome,  when  the  Christian  once  thoroughly 
understands  the  principles  of  the  new  life,  and  has 
learned  how  to  live  in  it.  The  common  thought  is 


80 


SECRET  OF  A  HAPPY  LIFE. 


that  this  life  hid  with  Christ  in  God  is  to  be  lived  in 
the  emotions,  and  consequently  all  the  attention  of  the 
soul  is  directed  toward  them,  and  as  they  are  satisfac¬ 
tory  or  otherwise,  the  soul  rests  or  is  troubled.  Now, 
the  truth  is,  that  this  life  is  not  to  be  lived  in  the  emo¬ 
tions  at  all,  but  in  the  will ;  and  therefore,  if  only  the 
will  is  kept  steadfastly  abiding  in  its  centre,  God’s 
will,  the  varying  states  of  emotion  do  not  in  the  least 
disturb  or  affect  the  reality  of  the  life. 

To  make  this  plain,  I  must  enlarge  a  little.  Fe- 
nelon  saj^s,  somewhere,  that  “pure  religion  resides  in 
the  will  alone.  ”  By  this  he  means  that,  as  the  will 
is  the  governing  power  in  the  man’s  nature,  if  the  will 
is  set  right,  all  the  rest  of  the  nature  must  come  into 
harmon}^.  By  the  will,  I  do  not  mean  the  wish  of  the 
man,  or  even  his  purpose,  but  the  deliberate  choice, 
the  deciding  power,  the  king,  to  which  all  that  is  in 
the  man  must  yield  obedience.  It  is  the  man,  in 
short,  the  “Fgo,”  that  which  we  feel  to  be  ourselves. 

It  is  sometimes  thought  that  the  emotions  are  the 
governing  power  in  our  nature.  But  I  think  we  all 
of  us  know,  as  a  matter  of  practical  experience,  that 
there  is  something  within  us,  behind  our  emotions  and 
behind  our  wishes,  an  independent  self,  that,  after  all , 
decides  everything  and  controls  everything.  Our 
emotions  belong  to  us,  and  are  suffered  and  enjoyed 
by  us,  but  they  are  not  ourselves;  and  if  God  is  to 
take  posession  of  us,  it  must  be  into  this  central  will 
or  personality  that  He  enters.  If,  then,  He  is  reign¬ 
ing  there  by  the  power  of  His  Spirit,  all  the  rest  of 
our  nature  must  come  under  His  sway ;  and  as  the 
will  is,  so  is  the  man. 

The  practical  bearing  of  this  truth  upon  the  difficulty 


THE  WILL . 


81 


I  am  considering  is  very  great.  For  the  decisions  of 
our  will  are  often  so  directly  opposed  to  the  decis- 
ions  of  our  emotions,  that,  if  we  are  in  the  habit 
of  considering  our  emotions  as  the  test,  we  shall  be 
very  apt  to  feel  like  hypocrites  in  declaring  those 
things  to  be  real  which  our  will  alone  has  decided. 
But  the  moment  we  see  that  the  will  is  king,  we  shall 
utterly  disregard  anything  that  clam  ors  against  it,  and 
shall  claim  as  real  its  decisions,  let  the  emotions  rebel 
as  they  may. 

I  am  aware  that  this  is  a  difficult  subject  to  deal 
with ;  but  it  is  so  exceedingly  practical  in  its  bearing 
upon  the  life  of  faith,  that  I  beg  of  you,  dear  reader, 
not  to  turn  from  it  until  you  have  mastered  it. 

Perhaps  an  illustration  will  help  you.  A  young 
man  of  great  intelligence,  seeking  to  enter  into  this 
new  life,  was  utterly  discouraged  at  finding  himself 
the  slave  to  an  inveterate  habit  of  doubting.  To  his 
emotions  nothing  seemed  true,  nothing  seemed  real; 
and  the  more  he  struggled,  the  more  unreal  did  it  all 
become.  He  was  told  this  secret  concerning  the  will: 
that  if  he  would  only  put  his  will  over  on  the  believ¬ 
ing  side,  if  he  would  choose  to  believe,  if,  in  short,  he 
would  in  this  Ego  of  his  nature  say,  “I  will  believe! 
I  do  believe!”  he  need  not  then  trouble  about  his 
emotions,  for  the}'  would  find  themselves  compelled, 
sooner  or  later,  to  come  into  harmony.  “  What !  ”  he 
said,  “do  you  mean  to  tell  me  that  I  can  choose  to 
believe  in  that  bald  way,  when  nothing  seems  true  to 
me?  And  will  that  kind  of  believing  be  real  ?  ”  “  Yes,” 
was  the  answer;  “it  will.  Fenelon  says  that  true  re¬ 
ligion  resides  in  the  will  alone;  and  he  means  that, 
since  a  man’s  will  is  really  the  man’s  self,  of  course, 


82 


SECRET  OF  A  HAPPY  LIFE. 


what  his  will  does,  he  does.  Your  part  then  is  simply 
to  put  your  will,  in  this  matter  of  believing,  over  on 
God’s  side,  making  up  your  mind  that  you  will  be¬ 
lieve  what  He  says,  because  He  says  it,  and  that  you 
will  not  pay  any  regard  to  the  feelings  that  make  it 
seem  so  unreal.  God  will  not  fail  to  respond,  sooner 
or  later,  with  his  revelation  to  such  a  faith,  ” 

The  young  man  paused  a  moment,  and  then  said 
solemnly,  “  I  understand,  and  will  do  what  you  say. 
I  cannot  control  my  emotions,  but  I  can  control  my 
will ;  and  the  new  life  begins  to  look  possible  to  me, 
if  it  is  only  my  will  that  needs  to  be  set  straight  in  the 
matter.  I  can  give  my  will  to  God,  and  I  do  ?  ” 

From  that  moment,  disregarding  all  the  pitiful 
clamoring  of  his  emotions,  which  continually  accused 
him  of  being  a  wretched  hypocrite,  this  young  man 
held  on  steadily  to  the  decision  of  his  will,  answering 
every  accusation  with  the  continued  assertion  that 
he  chose  to  believe,  he  meant  to  believe,  he  did 
believe ;  until  at  the  end  of  a  few  days  he  found  him¬ 
self  triumphant,  with  every  emotion  and  every  thought 
brought  into  captivity  to  the  power  of  the  Spirit  of 
God,  who  had  taken  possession  of  the  will  thus  put 
into  His  hands.  He  had  held  fast  the  profession  of 
his  faith  without  wavering,  although  it  had  seemed  to 
him  that,  as  to  real  faith  itself,  he  had  none  to  hold 
fast.  At  times  it  had  drained  all  the  will  power  he 
possessed  to  his  lips,  to  say  that  he  believed,  so  con* 
trary  was  it  to  all  the  evidence  of  his  senses  or  of  his 
emotions.  But  he  had  caught  the  idea  that  his  will 
was,  after  all,  himself,  and  that  if  he  kept  that  on  God’s 
side,  he  was  doing  all  he  could  do,  and  that  God  alone 
could  change  his  emotions  or  control  his  being.  The 


THE  WILL. 


83 


result  has  been  one  of  the  grandest  Christian  lives  I 
know  of,  in  its  marvellous  simplicity,  directness,  and 
power  over  sin. 

The  secret  lies  just  here,— that  our  will,  which  is  the 
spring  of  all  our  actions,  has  been  in  the  past  under  the 
control  of  sin  and  self,  and  these  have  worked  in  us 
all  their  own  good  pleasure.  But  now  God  calls  upon 
us  to  yield  our  wills  up  unto  Him,  that  He  may  take 
the  control  of  them,  and  may  work  in  us  to  will  and  to 
do  of  His  good  pleasure.  If  we  will  obey  this  call, 
and  present  ourselves  to  Him  as  a  living  sacrifice, 
He  will  take  possesion  of  our  surrendered  wills,  and 
will  begin  at  once  to  work  in  us  “that  which  is  well 
pleasing  in  His  sight,  through  Jesus  Christ,”  giving 
us  the  mind  that  was  in  Christ,  and  transforming  us 
into  His  image  (see  Rom.  xii.  1,  2). 

Let  us  take  another  illustration.  A  lady  who  had 
entered  into  this  life  hid  with  Christ,  was  confronted 
by  a  great  prospective  trial.  Every  emotion  she  had 
within  her  rose  up  in  rebellion  against  it ;  and  had  she 
considered  her  emotions  to  be  her  king,  she  would 
have  been  in  utter  despair.  But  she  had  learned  this 
secret  of  the  will,  and  knowing  that,  at  the  bottom,  she 
herself  did  really  choose  the  will  of  God  for  her  por¬ 
tion,  she  did  not  pay  the  slightest  attention  to  her 
emotions,  but  persisted  in  meeting  every  thought  con¬ 
cerning  the  trial  with  the  words,  repeated  over  and 
over,  “Thy  will  be  done!  Thy  will  be  done!”  as¬ 
serting,  in  the  face  of  all  her  rebelling  feelings,  that 
she  did  submit  her  will  to  God’s,  that  she  chose  to 
submit  it,  and  that  His  will  should  be  and  was  her 
delight!  The  result  was  that  in  an  incredibly  short 
space  of  time  every  thought  was  brought  into  captiv- 


84 


SECRET  OP  A  HAPPY  LIFE . 


ity,  and  she  began  to  find  even  her  very  emotions 
rejoicing  in  the  will  of  God. 

Again,  there  was  a  lady  who  had  a  besetting  sin, 
which  in  her  emotions  she  dearly  loved,  but  which 
in  her  will  she  hated.  Believing  herself  to  be  neces¬ 
sarily  under  the  control  of  her  emotions,  she  had 
fully  supposed  she  was  unable  to  conquer  it,  unless 
her  emotions  should  first  be  changed.  But  she  learned 
this  secret  concerning  the  will,  and  going  to  her  closet 
she  said,  “Lord,  thou  seest  that  with  my  emotions  I 
love  this  sin,  but  in  my  real  central  self  I  hate  it. 
Until  now  my  emotions  have  had  the  mastery  ;  but 
now  I  put  my  will  into  tliy  hands,  and  give  it  up  to 
thy  working.  I  will  never  again  consent  in  my  will 
to  yield  to  this  sin.  Take  possession  of  my  will,  and 
work  in  me  to  will  and  to  do  of  thy  good  pleasure.  ” 

Immediately  she  began  to  find  deliverance.  The 
Lord  took  possession  of  the  will  thus  surrendered  to 
Himself,  and  began  to  work  in  her  by  His  own  power, 
so  that  His  will  in  thematter  gained  the  mastery  over 
her  emotions,  and  she  found  herself  delivered,  not  by 
the  power  of  an  outward  commandment,  but  by  the 
inward  power  of  the  Spirit  of  God,  “working  in  her 
that  which  was  well  pleasing  in  His  sight.” 

And  now,  dear  Christian,  let  me  show  you  how  to 
apply  this  principle  to  your  difficulties.  Cease  to  con- 
sider  your  emotions,  for  they  are  only  the  servants; 
and  regard  simply  your  will,  which  is  the  real  king  in 
your  being.  Is  that  given  up  to  God?  Is  that  put 
into  His  hands?  Does  your  will  decide  to  believe? 
Does  your  will  choose  to  obey?  If  this  is  the  case, 
then  you  are  in  the  Lord’s  hands,  and  you  decide  to 
believe,  and  you  choose  to  obey;  for  your  will  is 


THE  WILL. 


85 


yourself.  And  the  thing  is  done.  The  transaction 
with  God  is  as  real,  when  only  your  will  acts,  as 
where*  every  emotion  coincides.  It  does  not  seem  as 
real  to  you;  but  in  God’s  sight  it  is  as  real.  And 
when  you  have  got  hold  of  this  secret,  and  have  dis* 
covered  that  you  need  not  attend  to  your  emotions 
but  simply  to  the  state  of  your  will,  all  the  Scripture 
commands,  to  yield  yourself  to  God,  to  present  your¬ 
self  a  living  sacrifice  to  Him,  to  abide  in  Christ,  to 
walk  in  the  light,  to  die  to  self,  become  possible  to 
you ;  for  you  are  conscious  that  in  all  these  your  will 
can  act,  and  can  take  God’s  side;  whereas,  if  it  had 
been  your  emotions  thatmust  doit,  you  would,  know¬ 
ing  them  to  be  utterly  uncontrollable,  sink  down  in 
helpless  despair. 

When,  then,  this  feeling  of  unreality  or  hypocrisy 
comes,  do  not  be  troubled  by  it.  It  is  only  in  your 
emotions,  and  is  not  worth  a  moment’s  thought.  Only 
see  to  it  that  your  will  is  in  God’s  hands,  that  your 
inward  self  is  abandoned  to  His  working,  that  your 
choice,  your  decision,  is  on  His  side ;  and  there  leave 
it.  Your  surging  emotions,  like  a  tossing  vessel  at 
anchor,  which  by  degrees  yields  to  the  steady  pull  of 
the  cable,  finding  themselves  attached  to  the  mighty 
power  of  God  by  the  choice  of  your  will,  must  inevi¬ 
tably  come  into  captivity,  and  give  in  their  allegiance 
to  Him  ;  and  you  will  sooner  or  later  verify  the  truth 
of  the  saying  that,  “if  any  man  will  do  His  will,  he 
shall  know  of  the  doctrine.” 

The  will  is  like  a  wise  mother  in  a  nursery;  the 
feelings  are  like  a  set  of  clamoring,  crying  children. 
The  mother  makes  up  her  mind  to  a  certain  course  of 
action  which  she  believes  to  be  right  and  best.  The 


86 


SECRET  OF  A  HAPPY  LIFE. 


children  clamor  against  it  and  declare  it  shall  not  be. 
But  the  mother,  knowing  that  she  is  mistress  and  not 
they,  pursues  her  course  loving^  and  calmly  in  spite 
of  all  their  clamors ;  and  the  result  is  that  the  children 
are  sooner  or  later  won  over  to  the  mother’s  course  of 
action,  and  fall  in  with  her  decisions,  and  all  is  har¬ 
monious  and  happy.  But  if  that  mother  should  for 
a  moment  let  in  the  thought  that  the  children  were 
the  masters  instead  of  herself,  confusion  would  reign 
unchecked.  And  in  how  many  souls  at  this  very 
moment  is  there  nothing  but  confusion,  simply  be¬ 
cause  the  feelings  are  allowed  to  govern,  instead  of 
the  will. 

Remember,  then,  that  the  real  thing  in  your  experi¬ 
ence  is  what  your  will  .decides,  and  not  the  verdict  of 
your  emotions;  and  that  }rouare  farmorein  dangerof 
hypocrisy  and  untruth  in  yielding  to  the  assertions 
of  your  feelings,  than  in  holding  fast  to  the  decision 
of  your  will.  So  that,  if  your  will  is  on  God’s  side, 
you  are  no  hypocrite  at  this  moment  in  claiming  as 
your  own  the  blessed  reality  of  belonging  altogether 
to  Him,  even  though  your  emotions  may  all  declare 
the  contrary. 

I  am  convinced  that  throughout  the  Bible  the  ex¬ 
pressions  concerning  the  “heart”  do  not  mean  the 
emotions,  that  which  we  now  understand  by  the  word 
“heart,”  buttheymean  the  will,  the  personality  ofthe 
man,  the  man's  own  central  self ;  and  that  the  object 
of  God’s  dealings  with  man  is  that  this  “I”  maybe 
yielded  up  to  Him,  and  this  central  life  abandoned  to 
His  entire  control.  It  is  not  the  feelings  of  the  man 
God  wants,  but  the  man  himself. 

But  do  not  let  us  make  a  mistake  here.  I  say  we 


THE  WILL. 


87 


must  “give  up”  our  wills,  but  I  do  not  mean  we  are 
to  be  left  will-less.  We  are  not  so  to  give  up  our 
wills  as  to  be  left  like  limp  nerveless  creatures,  with¬ 
out  any  will  at  all.  We  are  simply  to  substitute  for 
our  foolish,  misdirected  wills  of  ignorance  and  imma¬ 
turity,  the  higher,  divine,  mature  will  of  God.  If  we 
lay  the  emphasis  on  the  word  “our,”  we  shall  under¬ 
stand  it  better.  The  will  we  are  to  give  up  is  our  will, 
as  it  is  misdirected,  and  so  parted  off  from  God’s  will, 
not  our  will  when  it  is  one  with  God’s  will;  for  when 
our  will  is  in  harmony  with  His  will,  when  it  has  the 
stamp  of  oneness  with  Him.  it  would  be  wrong  for  us 
to  give  it  up. 

The  child  is  required  to  give  up  the'  misdirected  will 
that  belongs  to  it  as  a  child ,  and  we  cannot  let  it  say 
“  I  will  ”  or  “I  will  not ;  ”  but  when  its  will  is  in  har¬ 
mony  with  ours,  we  want  it  to  say  “I  will”  or“  I  will 
not”  with  all  the  force  of  which  it  is  capable. 

When  God  is  “working  in  us  to  will,”  we  must  set 
our  faces  like  a  flint  to  carry  out  this  will,  and  must 
respond  with  an  emphatic  “I  will”  to  every  “Thou 
shalt”  of  His.  For  God  can  only  carry  out  His  own 
will  with  us  as  we  consent  to  it,  and  will  in  harmony 
with  Him. 

Have  you  thus  consented,  dear  reader,  and  is  your 
face  set  as  a  flint  to  will  what  God  wills  ?  He  wills 
that  you  should  be  entirely  surrendered  to  Him,  and 
that  you  should  trust  Him  perfectly.  Do  you  will  the 
same  ? 

Again  I  repeat,  it  is  all  in  the  will.  Fenelon  says, 
“The  will  to  love  God  is  the  whole  of  religion.”  If, 
therefore,  you  have  in  your  will  taken  the  steps  of 
surrender  and  faith,  it  is  your  right  to  believe  even 


88 


SECRET  OF  A  HAPPY  LIFE . 


now,  no  matter  how  much  your  feelings  may  clamor 
against  it,  that  you  are  all  the  Lord’s,  and  that  He 
has  begun  to  “  work  in  you  to  will  and  to  do  of  His 
good  pleasure.” 

After  this  chapter  was  first  written  some  years  ago, 
the  following  remarkable  practical  illustration  of  its 
teaching  was  handed  to  me  by  Pasteur  Theodore 
Monod,  of  Paris.  It  is  the  experience  of  a  Presbyte¬ 
rian  minister,  which  this  Pasteur  had  carefully  kept 
for  many  years 

Newburgh,  Sept.  26,  1842. 

Dear  Brother, —  I  take  a  few  moments  of  that  time  which  I 
have  devoted  to  the  Lord,  in  writing  a  short  epistle  to  you,  His 
servant.  It  is  sweet  to  feel  we  are  wholly  the  Lord’s,  that  He  has 
received  us  and  called  us  His.  This  is  religion,  a  relinquishment  of 
the  principle  of  self-ownership,  and  the  adoption  in  full  of  the  abid¬ 
ing  sentiment,  “I  am  not  my  own,  I  am  bought  with  a  price.” 
Since  I  last  saw  you  I  have  been  pressing  forward,  and  yet  there 
has  been  nothing  remarkable  in  my  experience,  of  which  I  can 
speak  ;  indeed,  I  do  not  know  that  it  is  best  to  look  for  remark¬ 
able  things  ;  but  strive  to  be  holy,  as  God  is  holy,  pressing  right 
on  toward  the  mark  of  the  prize. 

I  do  not  feel  myself  qualified  to  instruct  you:  I  can  only  tell  you 
the  way  in  which  I  was  led.  The  Lord  deals  differently  with  diff 
erent  souls,  and  we  ought  not  to  attempt  to  copy  the  experience 
of  others  ;  yet  there  are  certain  things  which  must  be  attended  to 
by  every  one  who  is  seeking  after  a  clean  heart. 

There  must  be  a  personal  consecration  of  all  to  God  ;  a  covenant 
made  with  God  that  we  will  be  wholly  and  forever  His.  This  I 
made  intellectually,  without  any  change  in  my  feelings,  with  a 
heart  full  of  hardness  and  darkness,  unbelief  and  sin  and  insensi¬ 
bility 

T  covenanted  to  be  the  Lord’s,  and  laid  all  upon  the  altar,  a 
living  sacrifice,  to  the  best  of  my  ability.  And  after  I  rose  from 
my  knees  I  was  conscious  of  no  change  in  my  feelings.  1  was 
painfully  conscious  that  there  was  no  change.  But  yet  I  was  sure 
that  I  did,  with  all  the  sincerity  and  honesty  of  purpose  of  wrhich 
I  was  capable,  make  an  entire  and  eternal  consecration  of  mvself 
to  God.  I  did  not  then  consider  the  work  as  done  by  any  means, 
but  I  engaged  to  abide  in  a  state  of  entire  devotion  to  God,  a  liv¬ 
ing  perpetual  sacrifice.  And  now’  came  the  effort  to  do  this. 


THE  WILL 


89 


I  knew  also  that  I  must  believe  that  God  did  accept  me,  and  did 
come  to  dwell  in  my  heart.  I  was  conscious  I  did  not  believe  this 
and  yet  I  desired  to  do  so.  I  read  with  much  prayer  John’s  first 
epistle,  and  endeavored  to  assure  my  heart  of  God’s  love  to  me  as 
an  individual.  I  was  sensible  that  my  heart  was  full  of  evil.  I 
seemed  to  have  no  power  to  overcome  pride,  or  to  repel  evil 
thoughts  which  I  abhorred.  But  Christ  was  manifested  to  de¬ 
stroy  the  works  of  the  devil,  and  it  was  clear  that  the  sin  in  my 
heart  was  the  work  of  the  devil.  I  was  enabled,  therefore,  to  be¬ 
lieve  that  God  was  working  in  me  to  will  and  to  do,  while  I  was 
working  out  my  own  salvation  with  fear  and  trembling. 

I  was  convinced  of  unbelief,  that  it  made  the  faithful  God  a  liar. 
The  Lord  brought  before  me  my  besetting  sins  which  had  domin¬ 
ion  over  me,  especially  preaching  myself  instead  of  Christ,  and  in¬ 
dulging  in  self-complacent  thoughts  after  preaching.  I  was  en¬ 
abled  to  make  myself  of  no  reputation,  and  to  seek  the  honor 
which  cometh  from  God  only.  Satan  struggled  hard  to  Ipeat  me 
back  from  the  Rock  of  Ages ;  but  thanks  to  God,  I  finally  hit  upon 
the  method  of  living  by  the  moment,  and  then  I  found  rest. 


I  felt  shut  up  to  a  momentary  dependence  upon  the  grace  of 
Christ.  I  would  not  permit  the  adversary  to  trouble  me  about 
the  past  or  future,  for  I  each  moment  looked  for  the  supply  for 
that  moment.  I  agreed  that  I  would  be  a  child  of  Abraham,  and 
walk  by  naked  faith  in  the  word  of  God,  and  not  by  inward 
feelings  and  emotions;  I  wouldseekto  bea  Bible  Christian.  Since 
that  time  the  Lord  has  given  me  a  steady  victory  over  sins  ivhich  before 
enslaved  me.  I  delight  in  the  Lord  and  in  His  word.  I  delight  in 
my  work  as  a  minister;  my  fellowship  is  with  the  Father  and  with 
His  Son  Jesus  Christ.  I  am  a  babe  in  Christ ;  I  know  my  progress 
has  been  small,  compared  with  that  made  by  many.  My  feelings 
vary ;  but  when  I  have  feelings  I  praise  God  and  trust  in  His 
word;  and  when  I  am  empty  and  my  feelings  are  gone,  I  do  the 
same.  I  have  covenanted  to  walk  by  faith,  and  not  by  feelings. 

The  Lord,  I  think,  is  beginning  to  revive  His  work  among  my 
people.  “Praise  the  Lord!  ”  May  the  Lord  fill  you  with  all  His 
fulness,  and  give  you  all  the  mind  of  Christ.  Oh,  be  faithful ! 
Walk  before  God  and  be  perfect.  Preach  the  Word.  Be  instant  in 
season  and  out  of  season.  The  Lord  loves  you.  He  works  with 
you.  Rest  your  soul  fully  upon  that  promise,  “  Lo,  I  am  with  you 
alway,  even  unto  the  end  of  the  world.’’ 

Your  fellow-soldier, 

William  Hill. 

i 


90 


SECRET  OF  A  HAPPY  LIFE. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

DIFFICULTIES  CONCERNING  GUIDANCE. 

YOU  have  now  begun,  dear  reader,  the  life  of  faith. 

You  have  given  yourself  to  the  Lord  to  be  His 
whol^  and  altogether,  and  3^ou  are  now  entirely  in 
His  hands  to  be  moulded  and  fashioned  according  to 
His  own  divine  purpose,  into  a  vessel  unto  His  honor. 
Your  one  most  earnest  desire  is  to  follow  Him  whith¬ 
ersoever  He  may  lead  3rou,  and  to  be  very  pliable  in 
His  hands;  and  you  are  trusting  Him  to  “work  in 
you  to  will  and  to  do  of  His  good  pleasure.”  But  you 
find  a  great  difficulty  here.  You  have  not  learned  yet 
to  know  the  voice  of  the  Good  Shepherd,  and  are  there¬ 
fore  in  great  doubt  and  perplexity  as  to  what  really  is 
His  will  concerning  you. 

Perhaps  there  are  certain  paths  into  which  God 
seems  to  be  calling  you,  of  which  your  friends  disap¬ 
prove.  And  these  friends,  it  may  be,  are  older  than 
yourself  in  the  Christian  life,  and  seem  to  you  also  to 
be  much  farther  advanced.  You  "can  scarcely  bear  to 
differ  from  them  or  to  distress  them  ;  and  you  feel  also 
very  diffident  of  yielding  to  any  seeming  impressions 
of  duty,  of  which  they  do  not  approve.  And  yet  3-011 
cannot  get  rid  of  these  impressions,  and  you  find  your¬ 
self  therefore  plunged  into  great  doubt  and  uneasiness. 

There  is  a  way  out  of  all  these  difficulties  to  the  fully 
surrendered  soul.  I  would  repeat  fully  surrendered. 


GUIDANCE . 


91 


because,  if  there  is  any  reserve  of  will  upon  any  point, 
it  becomes  almost  impossible  to  find  out  the  mind  of 
God  in  reference  to  that  point;  and  therefore  the  first 
thing  is  to  be  sure  that  you  really  do  purpose  to  obey 
the  Lord  in  every  respect.  If  however  this  is  your 
purpose,  and  your  soul  only  needs  to  know  the  will  of 
God  in  order  to  consent  to  it,  then  you  surely  cannot 
doubt  His  willingness  to  make  His  will  known,  and 
to  guide  you  in  the  right  paths.  There  are  many  very 
clear  promises  in  reference  to  this.  Take,  for  instance, 
John  x.  3,  4,  “He  calleth  His  own  sheep  by  name,  and 
leadetli  them  out.  And  when  He  putteth  forth  His 
own  sheep  He  goeth  before  them,  and  the  sheep  follow 
Him,  for  they  know  his  voice.”  Or  John  xiv.  26: 
“  But  the  Comforter,  which  is  the  Holy  Ghost,  whom 
the  Father  will  send  in  my  name,  He  shall  teach  you 
all  things  and  bring  all  things  to  your  remembrance, 
whatsoever  I  have  said  unto  you.”  Or  James  i.  5,  6: 
“If  any  of  you  lack  wisdom,  let  him  ask  of  God,  that 
giveth  to  all  men  liberally,  and  upbraideth  not ;  and  it 
shall  be  given  him.” 

With  such  declarations  as  these,  and  many  more  like 
them,  we  must  believe  that  Divine  guidance  is  prom¬ 
ised  to  us,  and  our  faith  must  therefore  confidently 
look  for  and  expect  it.  This  is  essential,  for  in 
James  i,  6,  7,  we  are  told,  “Let  him  ask  in  faith,  noth¬ 
ing  wavering.  For  he  that  wavereth  is  like  a  wave  of 
the  sea,  driven  with  the  wind  and  tossed.  For  let 
not  that  man  think  that  he  shall  receive  anything  of 
the  Lord.” 

Settle  this  point  then,  first  of  all,  and  let  no  sugges¬ 
tion  of  doubt  turn  you  from  a  steadfast  faith  in  re¬ 
gard  to  it,  that  Divine  guidance  has  been  promised. 


92 


SECRET  OF  A  HAPPY  LIFE. 


and  that,  if  yon  seek  it,  you  are  sure  to  receive  it. 

Next,  you  must  remember  that  our  God  has  all 
knowledge  and  all  wisdom,  and  that  therefore  it  is 
very  possible  He  may  guide  }^ou  into  paths  wherein 
He  knows  great  blessings  are  awaiting  you,  but  which, 
to  the  short-sighted  human  eyes  around  you,  seem 
sure  to  result  in  confusion  and  loss.  You  must  rec¬ 
ognize  the  fact  that  God’s  thoughts  are  not  as  man’s 
thoughts,  nor  His  ways  as  man’s  ways;  and  that  He 
alone,  who  knows  the  end  of  things  from  the  begin¬ 
ning,  can  judge  of  what  the  results  of  any  course  of 
action  may  be.  You  must  therefore  realize  that  His 
very  love  for  you  may  perhaps  lead  you  to  run  counter 
to  the  loving  wishes  of  even  your  dearest  friends. 
You  must  learn,  from  Luke  xiv.  26-33,  and  similar 
passages,  that  in  order  to  be  a  disciple  and  follower 
of  your  Lord,  you  may  perhaps  be  called  upon  to 
forsake  inwardly  all  that  you  have,  even  father  or 
mother,  or  brother  or  sister,  or  husband  or  wife,  or  it 
may  be  your  own  life  also.  Unless  the  possibility  of 
this  is  clearly  recognized,  you  will  be  very  likely  to 
get  into  difficulty,  because  it  often  happens  that  the 
child  of  God  who  enters  upon  this  life  of  obedience,  is 
sooner  or  later  led  into  paths  which  meet  with  the 
disapproval  of  those  he  best  loves;  and  unless  he  is 
prepared  for  this,  and  can  trust  the  Lord  through  it 
all,  he  will  scarcely  know  what  to  do. 

But,  these  points  having  all  been  settled,  we  come 
now  to  the  question  as  to  how  God’s  guidance  is 
to  come  to  us,  and  how  we  shall  be  able  to  know 
His  voice.  There  are  four  ways  in  which  He  reveals 
His  will  to  us,  —  through  the  Scriptures,  through 
providential  circumstances,  through  the  convictions 


GUIDANCE . 


98 


of  our  own  higher  judgment,  and  through  the  in¬ 
ward  impressions  of  the  Holy  Spirit  on  our  minds. 
Where  these  four  harmonize,  it  is  safe  to  say  that 
God  speaks.  For  I  lay  it  down  as  a  foundation  prin¬ 
ciple,  which  no  one  can  gainsay,  that  of  course  His 
voice  will  always  be  in  harmony  with  itself,  no  matter 
in  how  many  different  ways  he  may  speak.  The 
voices  may  be  many,  the  message  can  be  but  one.  If 
God  tells  me  in  one  voice  to  do  or  to  leave  undone 
anything,  He  cannot  possibty  tell  me  the  opposite  in 
another  voice.  If  there  is  a  contradiction  in  the 
voices,  the  speakers  cannot  be  the  same.  Therefore 
my  rule  for  distinguishing  the  voice  of  God  would  be 
to  bring  it  to  the  test  of  this  harmony. 

The  Scriptures  come  first.  If  you  are  in  doubt 
upon  any  subject,  you  must,  first  of  all,  consult  the 
Bible  about  it,  and  see  whether  there  is  any  law  there 
to  direct  you.  Until  you  have  found  and  obeyed 
God’s  will  as  it  is  there  revealed,  you  must  not  ask 
nor  expect  a  separate,  direct,  personal  revelation.  A 
great  many  fatal  mistakes  are  made  in  the  matter  of 
guidance,  by  the  overlooking  of  this  simple  rule. 
Where  our  Father  has  written  out  for  us  a  plain 
direction  about  anything,  He  will  not  of  course  make 
an  especial  revelation  to  us  about  that  thing.  And  if 
we  fail  to  search  out  and  obey  the  Scripture  rule,  where 
there  is  one,  and  look  instead  for  an  inward  voice, 
we  shall  open  ourselves  to  delusions,  and  shall  almost 
inevitably  get  into  error.  No  mail,  for  instance,  needs 
or  could  expect  any  direct  personal  revelation  to  tell 
him  not  to  steal,  because  God  has  already  in  the  Scrip* 
tures  plainly  declared  His  will  about  stealing.  This 
seems  such  an  obvious  thing  that  I  would  not  speak  of 


94 


SECRET  OF  A  HAPPY  LIFE. 


it,  but  that  1  have  frequently  met  with  Christians  who 
have  altogether  overlooked  it,  and  who  have,  as  the 
result,  gone  off  into  fanaticism.  I  knew  one  earnest 
Christian  who  had  the  text  “  All  things  are  yours”  so 
strongly  impressed  upon  her  mind  in  reference  to  some 
money  belonging  to  a  friend,  that  she  felt  it  was  a 
direct  command  to  her  to  steal  that  money;  and  after  a 
great  strugglesheobeyed  this  apparent  guidance,  with 
of  course  most  grievous  after-results.  Had  she  sub¬ 
mitted  her  “leading”  to  the  plain  teaching  of  Scripture 
in  reference  to  stealing,  she  would  have  been  saved. 

The  Bible,  it  is  true,  does  not  always  give  a  rule 
for  every  particular  course  of  action,  and  in  these 
cases  we  need  and  must  expect  guidance  in  other 
ways.  But  the  Scriptures  are  far  more  explicit,  even 
about  details,  than  most  people  think,  and  there  are 
not  many  important  affairs  in  life  for  which  a  clear 
direction  may  not  be  found  in  God’s  book.  Take  the 
matter  of  dress  and  we  have  1  Peter  iii.  3,  4,  and 
1  Tim.  ii.  9.  Take  the  matter  of  conversation,  and 
we  have  Eph.  iv.  29,  and  v.  4.  Take  the  matter  of 
avenging  injuries  and  standing  up  for  our  rights, 
and  we  have  Rom.xii.  19-21,  and  Matt.v.  38-48,  and 
1  Peter  ii.  19-21.  Take  the  matter  of  forgiving  one 
another,  and  we  have  Eph.  iv.  32,  and  Mark  xi.  25, 26. 
Take  the  matter  of  conformity  to  the  world,  and  we 
have  Rom.  xii.  2,  and  1  John  ii.  15-17,  and  James  iv.  4. 
Take  the  matter  of  anxieties  of  every  kind,  and  we 
have  Matt.  vi.  25-34,  and  Phil.  iv.  6,  7. 

I  only  give  these  as  examples  to  show  how  very 
full  and  practical  the  Bible  guidance  is.  If,  therefore, 
you  find  yourself  in  perplexity,  first  of  all  search 
and  see  whether  the  Bible  speaks  on  the  point  iu 


GUIDANCE. 


95 


question,  asking  God  to  make  plain  to  you,  by  the 
power  of  His  Spirit,  through  the  Scriptures,  what  is 
His  mind.  And  whatever  shall  seem  to  you  to  be 
plainly  taught  there,  that  you  must  obey.  No  espe¬ 
cial  guidance  will  ever  be  given  about  a  point  on 
which  the  Scriptures  are  explicit,  nor  could  any  guid¬ 
ance  ever  be  contrary  to  the  Scriptures. 

It  is  essential,  however,  in  this  connection  to  remem- 
oer  that  the  Bible  is  a  book  of  principles,  and  not 
a  book  of  disjointed  aphorisms.  Isolated  texts  may 
often  be  made  to  sanction  things  to  which  the  princi¬ 
ples  of  Scripture  are  totally  opposed.  I  believe  all 
fanaticism  comes  in  this  way.  An  isolated  text  is  so 
impressed  upon  the  mind  that  it  seems  a  necessity  to 
obey  it,  no  matter  into  what  wrong  thing  it  may  lead; 
and  thus  the  principles  of  Scripture  are  violated, 
under  the  very  plea  of  obedience  to  the  Scriptures.  In 
Luke  iv.  the  enemy  is  represented  as  using  isolated 
texts  to  endorse  his  temptations,  while  Christ  repelled 
him  by  announcing  principles. 

If,  however,  upon  searching  the  Bible  you  do  not 
find  any  principles  that  will  settle  your  especial  point 
of  difficulty,  you  must  then  seek  guidance  in  the  other 
ways  mentioned;  and  God  will  surely  voice  Himself 
to  you,  either  by  a  conviction  of  your  judgment,  or  by 
providential  circumstances,  or  by  a  clear  inward 
impression.  In  all  true  guidance  these  four  voices  will, 
as  I  have  said,  necessarily  harmonize,  for  God  cannot 
say  in  one  voice  that  which  He  contradicts  in  another. 
Therefore,  if  you  have  an  impression  of  dutyr,  you 
must  see  whether  it  is  in  accordance  with  Scripture, 
and  whether  it  commends  itself  to  your  own  higher 
judgment,  and  also  whether,  as  we  Quakers  say,  the 


96 


SECRET  OF  A  HAPPY  LIFE. 


“  way  opens  ”  for  its  carrying  out.  If  any  one  of  these 
tests  fails,  it  is  not  safe  to  proceed,  but  you  must  wait 
in  quiet  trust  until  the  Lord  shows  you  the  point  of 
harmony,  which  He  surely  will,  sooner  or  later,  if  it 
is  His  voice  that  is  speaking.  Anything  which  is  out 
of  this  divine  harmony  must  be  rejected,  therefore, 
as  not  coming  from  God.  For  we  must  never  forget 
that  “impressions”  can  come  from  other  sources  as 
well  as  from  the  Holy  Spirit.  The  strong  personali¬ 
ties  of  those  around  us  are  the  source  of  a  great  many 
of  our  impressions.  Impressions  also  arise  often  from 
our  wrong  physical  conditions,  which  color  things  far 
more  than  we  dream.  And  finally,  impressions  come 
from  those  spiritual  enemies  which  seem  to  lie  in  wait 
for  every  traveller  who  seeks  to  enter  the  higher 
regions  of  the  spiritual  life.  In  the  same  epistle  which 
tells  us  that  we  are  seated  in  “heavenly  places  in 
Christ”  (Eph.  ii.6),  we  are  also  told  thatwe  shall  have 
to  Tight  there  with  spiritual  enemies  (Eph.  vi.  12). 
These  spiritual  enemies,  whoever  or  whatever  they 
may  be,  must  necessarily  communicate  with  us  by 
means  of  ourspiritual  faculties;  and  theirvoices  there¬ 
fore  will  be,  as  the  voice  of  God  is,  an  inward  impres¬ 
sion  made  upon  our  spirits.  Consequently,  just  as  the 
Holy  Spirit  may  tell  us  by  impressions  what  is  the 
will  of  God  concerning  us,  so  also  will  these  spiritual 
enemies  tell  us  by  impressions  what  is  their  will  con¬ 
cerning  us,  disguising  themselves,  of  course,  as  “  angels 
of  light  ”  who  have  come  to  lead  us  closer  to  God. 

Many  earnest  and  honest-hearted  children  of  God 
have  been  thus  deluded  into  paths  of  extreme  fanati¬ 
cism,  while  all  the  while  thinking  they  were  closely 
following  the  L  >rd.  God,  who  sees  the  sincerity  of 


GUIDANCE. 


97 


their  hearts,  can  and  does,  I  am  sure,  pity  and  forgive; 
but  the  consequences  as  to  this  life  are  often  very 
sad.  It  is  not  enough  to  have  a  “leading;  ”  we  must 
find  out  the  source  of  that  leading  before  we  give  our¬ 
selves  up  to  follow  it.  It  is  not  enough,  either,  for  the 
leading  to  be  very  “remarkable,”  or  the  coincidences 
to  be  very  striking,  to  stamp  it  as  being  surely  from 
God.  In  all  ages  of  the  world  evil  and  deceiving 
agencies  have  been  able  to  work  miracles,  foretell 
events,  reveal  secrets,  and  give  “signs;”  and  God’s 
people  have  always  been  emphatically  warned  about 
being  deceived  thereby. 

It  is  essential,  therefore,  that  our  “leadings”  should 
all  be  tested  by  the  teachings  of  Scripture.  But  this 
alone  is  not  enough.  They  must  be  tested  as  well  by 
our  own  spiritually  enlightened  judgment,  or  what  is 
familiarly  called  “common  sense.” 

So  far  as  I  can  see,  the  Scriptures  everywhere  make 
it  an  essential  thing  for  the  children  of  God,  in  their 
journey  through  this  world,  to  use  all  the  faculties 
that  have  been  given  them.  They  are  to  use  their 
outward  faculties  for  their  outward  walk,  and  their 
inward  faculties  for  their  inward  walk;  and  thej^ 
might  as  well  expect  to  be  “kept”  from  dashing 
their  feet  against  a  stone  in  the  outward,  if  the}^  walk 
blindfold,  as  to  be  “kept”  from  spiritual  stumbling, 
if  they  put  aside  their  judgment  and  common  sense  in 
their  interior  life. 

Some,  however,  may  say  here,  “But  I  thought  we 
were  not  to  depend  on  our  Human  understanding  in 
Divine  things.”  I  answer  to  this  that  we  are  not  to 
depend  on  our  unenlightened  human  understanding, 
but  upon  our  human  judgment  and  common  sense 


98 


SECRET  OF  A  HAPPY  LIFE. 


enlightened  by  the  Spirit  of  God.  That  is,  God  will 
speak  to  us  through  the  faculties  He  has  Himself 
given  us,  and  not  independently  of  them;  so  that 
just  as  we  are  to  use  our  outward  eyes  in  our  outward 
walk,  no  matter  how  full  of  faith  we  may  be,  so  also  we 
are  to  use  the  interior  “eyes  of  our  understanding” 
in  our  interior  walk  with  God. 

The  third  test  to  which  our  impressions  must  be 
brought  is  that  of  providential  circumstances.  If  a 
“leading”  is  of  God,  the  way  will  always  open  for  it. 
Our  Lord  assures  us  of  this  when  He  says,  in  John  x. 
4,  “And  when  He  putteth  forth  His  own  sheep,  He 
goeth  before  them,  and  the  sheep  follow  Him;  for  they 
know  His  voice.”  Notice  here  the  expressions  “go¬ 
eth  before,”  and  “follow.”  He  goes  before  to  open 
a  way,  and  we  are  to  follow  in  the  way  thus  opened. 
It  is  never  a  sign  of  a  Divine  leading  when  the  Christ¬ 
ian  insists  on  opening  his  own  way,  and  riding  rough¬ 
shod  over  all  opposing  things.  If  the  Lord  “goes 
before”  us,  He  will  open  the  door  for  us,  and  we  shall 
not  need  to  batter  down  doors  for  ourselves. 

The  fourth  point  I  would  make  is  this,  —  that,  just 
as  our  impressions  must  be  tested,  as  I  have  shown, 
by  the  other  three  voices,  so  must  these  other  voices 
be  tested  by  our  inward  impressions ;  and  if  we  feel  a 
“stop  in  our  minds”  about  anything,  we  must  wait 
until  that  is  removed  before  acting.  A  Christian  who 
had  advanced  with  unusual  rapidity  in  the  Divine  life 
gave  me,  as  her  secret,  this  simple  receipt:  “I  always 
mind  the  checks.”  We  must  not  ignore  the  voice  ot 
our  inward  impressions,  nor  ride  roughshod  over  them, 
any  more  than  we  must  the  other  three  voices  of 
which  I  have  spoken. 


GUIDANCE. 


99 


Every  peculiarly  precious  spiritual  gift  is  always 
necessarily  linked  with  some  peculiar  danger.  When 
the  spiritual  world  is  opened  to  a  soul,  both  the  good 
and  the  evil  there  will  meet  it.  But  we  must  not  be 
discouraged  by  this.  Who  would  not  rather  take 
manhood  with  all  its  risks  and  dangers,  than  remain 
forever  in  the  ignorance  and  innocence  of  childhood ; 
and  who  would  not  rather  grow  up  the  stature  of 

Christ,  even  if  it  shall  involve  new  and  more  subtle 
forms  of  temptation  ? 

Therefore  we  must  not  be  deterred  from  embracing 
the  blessed  privilege  of  Divine  guidance  by  a  dread 
of  the  dangers  that  environ  it.  With  the  four  tests  I 
have  mentioned,  and  a  divine  sense  of  “  oughtness/ 
derived  from  the  harmony  of  all  of  God’s  voices, 
there  need  be  nothing  to  fear.  And  to  me  it  seems 
that  the  blessedness  and  joy  of  this  direct  commu¬ 
nication  of  God’s  will  to  us  is  one  of  our  grandest 
privileges.  That  God  cares  enough  about  us  to  de¬ 
sire  to  regulate  the  details  of  our  lives,  is  the  strong¬ 
est  proof  of  love  He  could  give ;  and  that  He  should 
condescend  to  tell  us  all  about  it,  and  to  let  us  know 
just  how  to  live  and  walk  so  as  perfectly  to  please 
Him,  seems  almost  too  good  to  be  true.  We  never 
care  about  the  little  details  of  people’s  lives  unless 
we  love  them.  It  is  a  matter  of  indifference  to  us 
what  the  majority  of  people  we  meet  do,  or  how 
they  spend  their  time.  But  as  soon  as  we  begin  to 
love  any  one,  we  begin  at  once  to  care.  God’s  law, 
therefore,  is  only  another  name  for  God’s  love;  and 
r.ne  more  minute! y  that  law  descends  into  the  details 
ot  our  iives,  the  more  sure  we  are  made  of  the  depth 
and  reality  of  the  love.  We  can  never  know  the 


100 


SECRET  OF  A  HAPPY  LIFE. 


full  joy  and  privileges  of  the  life  hid  with  Christ  in 
God,  until  we  have  learned  the  lesson  of  a  daily  and 
hourly  guidance. 

God’s  promise  is  that  He  will  work  in  us  to  will 
as  well  as  to  do  of  His  good  pleasure.  This  means, 
of  course,  that  He  will  take  possession  of  our  will,  and 
work  it  for  us ;  and  that  His  suggestions  will  come  to 
us,  not  so  much  commands  from  the  outside,  as  de¬ 
sires  springing  up  within.  They  will  originate  in  our 
will;  we  shall  feel  as  though  we  desired  to  do  so 
and  so,  not  as  though  we  must.  And  this  makes  it 
a  service  of  perfect  liberty ;  for  it  is  always  easy  to  do 
what  we  desire  to  do,  let  the  accompanjdng  circum¬ 
stances  be  as  difficult  as  they  may.  Every  mother 
knows  that  she  could  secure  perfect  and  easy  obedi¬ 
ence  in  her  child,  if  she  could  only  get  into  that  child’s 
will  and  work  it  for  him,  making  him  want  himself  to 
do  the  things  she  willed  he  should.  And  this  is  what 
our  Father,  in  the  new  dispensation,  does  for  His  chil¬ 
dren  ;  He  “  writes  His  laws  on  our  hearts  and  on  our 
minds,”  so  that  our  affection  and  our  understanding 
embrace  them,  and  we  are  drawn  to  obey,  instead  of 
being  driven  to  it. 

The  way  in  which  the  Holy  Spirit,  therefore,  usually 
works,  in  a  fully  obedient  soul,  in  regard  to  this  direct 
guidance,  is  to  impress  upon  the  mind  a  wish  or  desire 
to  do  or  to  leave  undone  certain  things. 

The  child  of  God  when  engaged  in  prayer  feels,  per¬ 
haps,  a  sudden  suggestion  made  to  his  inmost  con¬ 
sciousness  in  reference  to  a  certain  point  of  duty  “  I 
would  like  to  do  this  orthe  other,  ”  he  thinks  ;  “  I  wish 
Icculd.”  At  once  this  matter  should  be  committed 
to  the  Lord,  with  an  instant  consent  of  the  will  to 


I 


GUIDANCE .  101 


obey  Him,  should  the  suggestion  prove  to  be  really 
from  Him.  And  then  the  tests  I  have  mentioned 
should  be  intelligently  applied,  namely,  as  to  whether 
the  suggestion  is  in  accordance  with  the  teaching  of 
Scripture,  with  a  sanctified  judgment,  and  with  provi¬ 
dential  circumstances.  Often  no  distinct  conscious¬ 
ness  of  this  process  is  necessary,  as  our  spiritual 
intelligence  can  see  at  a  glance  the  right  or  wrong  of 
the  matter.  But,  however  it  may  come,  when  the  di¬ 
vine  harmony  is  reached,  and  the  divine  sense  of 
“oughtness”  settles  down  on  the  heart,  then  an  im¬ 
mediate  obedience  is  the  safest  and  easiest  course. 
The  first  moment  that  we  dearly  see  a  thing  to  be 
right,  is  always  the  moment  when  it  is  easy  to  do  it. 
If  we  “let  in  the  reasoner,  ”  as  the  Quakers  express 
it,  the  golden  opportunity  is  lost,  and  obedience  be¬ 
comes  more  and  more  difficult  with  every  moment’s 
delay.  The  old  self-will  wakens  into  life ;  and  the  en¬ 
ergies  that  should  have  been  occupied  with  obeying, 
are  absorbed  instead  in  the  struggle  with  doubts  and 
reasonings. 

It  sometimes  happens,  however,  that,  in  spite  of  all 
our  efforts  to  discover  the  truth,  the  divine  sense  of 
“  oughtness”  does  not  seem  to  come,  and  our  doubts 
and  perplexities  continue  unenlightened.  In  addi¬ 
tion  to  this  our  friends  differ  from  us,  and  would,  we 
know,  oppose  our  course.  In  such  a  case  there  is 
nothing  to  do  but  to  wait  until  the  light  comes.  But 
we  must  wait  in  faith,  and  in  an  attitude  of  entire 
surrender,  saying  a  continual  “Yes  ”  to  the  will  of  our 
Lord,  let  it  be  what  it  may.  If  the  suggestion  is 
trom  Him,  it  will  continue  and  strengthen;  if  it  is 
not  trom  Him,  it  will  disappear,  and  we  shall  almost 


102 


SECRET  OF  A  HAPPY  LIFE. 


forget  we  ever  had  it.  If  it  continues,  if  every  time 
we  are  brought  into  near  communion  with  the  Lord 
it  seems  to  return,  if  it  troubles  us  in  our  moments 
of  prayer,  and  disturbs  all  our  peace,  and  if  finally  it 
conforms  to  the  test  of  the  divine  harmony  of  which 
I  have  spoken,  we  may  then  feel  sure  it  is  from  God, 
and  we  must  yield  to  it,  or  suffer  an  unspeakable 
loss. 

The  Apostle  gives  us  a  rule  in  reference  to  doubt¬ 
ful  things,  which  seems  to  me  very  explicit.  He 
is  speaking  about  certain  kinds  of  meat-eating  which 
were  ceremonially  unclean,  and  after  declaring  his 
own  liberty  saj^s,  “I  know,  and  am  persuaded  by 
the  Lord  Jesus,  that  there  is  nothing  unclean  of  itself: 
but  to  him  that  esteemeth  anything  to  be  unclean,  to 
him  it  is  unclean.  ”  And  in  summing  up  the  whole 
subject  he  writes:  “Hast  thou  faith?  have  it  to  thyself 
before  God.  Happy  is  he  that  condemneth  not  himself 
in  that  thing  which  he  alloweth.  And  he  that  doubteth 
is  damned  [condemned]  if  he  eat,  because  he  eateth 
not  pf  faith:  for  whatsoever  is  not  of  faith  is  sin.” 
In  all  doubtful  things  you  must  stand  still  and  refrain 
from  action,  until  God  gives  you  light  to  know  more 
clearly  His  mind  concerning  them.  Very  often  you 
will  find  that  the  doubt  has  been  His  voice  calling 
upon  you  to  come  into  more  perfect  comformity  to 
His  will;  but  sometimes  these  doubtful  things  are 
only  temptations,  or  morbid  feelings,  to  which  it  would 
be  most  unwise  for  you  to  yield,  and  the  only  sate  way 
is  to  wait  until  you  can  act  in  faith,  for  “whatsoever 
is  not  of  faith  is  sin.” 

Take  all  your  present  perplexities,  then,  to  the  Lord. 
Tell  Him  you  only  want  to  know  and  obey  His  voice, 


GUIDANCE. 


103 


and  ask  Him  to  make  it  plain  to  you.  Promise  Him 
that  you  will  obey,  whatever  it  may  be  Believe  im¬ 
plicitly  that  He  is  guiding  you,  according  to  His  word. 
In  all  doubtful  things,  wait  for  clear  light.  Look  and 
listen  for  His  voice  continually;  and  the  moment  you 
are  sure  of  it,  then,  but  not  until  then,  yield  an  imme¬ 
diate  obedience.  Trust  Him  to  make  you  forget  the 
impression  if  it  is  not  His  will ;  and  if  it  continues, 
and  is  in  harmony  with  all  His  other  Y0ic.es,  do  not 
be  afraid  to  obey. 

Above  everything  else,  trust  Him.  Nowhere  is  faith 
more  needed  than  here.  He  has  promised  to  guide. 
You  have  asked  Him  to  do  it.  And  now  you  must 
believe  that  He  does,  and  must  take  what  comes  as 
being  His  guidance.  No  earthly  parent  or  master 
could  guide  his  children  or  servants,  if  they  should 
refuse  to  take  his  commands  as  being  really  the  ex¬ 
pression  of  his  will ;  and  God  cannot  guide  those 
souls  who  never  trust  Him  enough  to  believe  that  He 
is  doing  it. 

Above  all,  do  not  be  afraid  of  this  blessed  life,  lived 
hour  by  hour  and  day  by  day  under  the  guidance  ol 
thy  Lord!  If  He  seeks  to  bring  thee  out  of  the 
world  and  into  very  close  conformity  to  Himself,  do 
not  shrink  from  it.  It  is  thy  most  blessed  privilege. 
Rejoice  in  it.  Embrace  it  eagerly.  Let  everything 
go  that  it  may  be  thine. 

“God  only  is  the  creature’s  home, 

Though  rough  and  strait  the  road ; 

Yet  nothing  else  can  satisfy 
The  love  that  longs  for  God. 

How  little  of  that  road,  my  soul! 

How  little  hast  thou  gone  I 


104 


SECRET  OF  A  HAPPY  LIFE. 


Take  heart,  and  let  the  thought  of  God 
Allure  thee  further  on. 

•‘Dole  not  thy  duties  out  to  God, 

But  let  thy  hand  be  free; 

Look  long  at  Jesus, —  His  sweet  love 
How  was  it  dealt  to  thee  ? 

44  The  perfect  way  is  hard  to  flesh, 

It  is  not  hard  to  love ; 

If  thou  wert  sick  for  want  of  God, 

How  swiftly  wouldst  thou  movel 

•‘And  only  this  perfection  needs 
A  heart  kept  calm  all  day, 

To  catch  the  words  the  Spirit  there 
From  hour  to  hour  may  say. 

**  Then  keep  thy  conscience  sensitive. 

No  inward  token  miss ; 

And  go  where  grace  entices  thee,— 
Perfection  lies  in  this. 

**Be  docile  to  thine  unseen  Guide, 

Love  Him  as  He  loves  thee; 

Time  and  obedience  are  enough, 

And  thou  a  saint  shalt  be.” 


DOUBTS . 


105 


CHAPTER  IX. 

DIFFICULTIES  CONCERNING  DOUBTS. 

A  GREAT  many  Christians  are  slaves  to  an  invet 
erate  habit  of  doubting.  I  do  not  mean  doubts 
as  to  the  existence  of  God  or  the  truths  of  the  Bible, 
but  doubts  as  to  their  own  personal  relations  with  the 
God  in  whom  they  profess  to  believe,  doubts  as  to  the 
forgiveness  of  their  sins,  doubts  as  to  their  hopes  of 
heaven,  and  doubts  about  their  own  inward  experi¬ 
ence.  No  drunkard  was  ever  more  in  bondage  to  his 
habit  of  drink  than  they  are  to  their  habit  of  doubting. 
Every  step  of  their  spiritual  progress  is  taken  against 
the  fearful  odds  of  an  army  of  doubts,  that  are  forever 
lying  in  wait  to  assail  them  at  each  favorable  moment. 
Their  lives  are  made  wretched,  their  usefulness  is 
effectually  hindered,  and  their  communion  with  God 
is  continually  broken,  by  their  doubts.  \nd  although 
tne  entrance  of  the  soul  upon  the  life  of  faith  does,  in 
many  cases,  take  it  altogether  out  of  the  region  where 
these  doubts  live  and  flourish,  yet  even  here  it  some¬ 
times  happens  that  the  old  tyrant  will  rise  up  and  re¬ 
assert  his  sway,  and  will  cause  the  feet  to  stumble 
and  the  heart  to  fail,  even  when  he  cannot  succeed  in 
utterly  turning  the  believer  back  into  the  dreary 
wilderness  again. 

We  all  of  us  remember,  doubtless,  our  childish 
fascination,  and  yet  horror,  in  the  story  of  Christian’s 


106 


SECRET  OF  A  HAPPY  LIFE. 


imprisonment  in  Doubting  Castle,  by  tbe  wicked  giant 
Despair,  and  our  exultant  sympathy  in  his  escape 
through  those  massive  gates  and  from  that  cruel 
tyrant.  Little  did  we  suspect  then  that  we  should  ever 
find  ourselves  taken  prisoner  by  the  same  giant,  and 
imprisoned  in  the  same  castle.  But  I  fear  that  each 
one  of  us,  if  we  were  perfectly  honest,  would  have  to 
confess  to  at  least  one  such  experience,  and  some  of  us 
perhaps  to  a  great  many. 

It  seems  strange  that  people  whose  very  name  of 
Believers  implies  that  their  one  chiefest  characteristic 
is  that  they  believe,  should  have  to  confess  that  they 
have  doubts.  And  yet  it  is  such  a  universal  habit, 
that  I  feel,  if  the  name  were  to  be  given  over  again, 
the  only  fitting  and  descriptive  name  that  could  be 
given  to  many  of  God’s  children  would  have  to  be 
that  of  Doubters.  In  fact,  most  Christians  have  set¬ 
tled  down  under  their  doubts,  as  to  a  sort  of  inevitable 
malady,  from  which  they  suffer  acutely,  but  to  which 
they  must  try  to  be  resigned  as  a  part  of  the  neces¬ 
sary  discipline  of  this  earthly  life;  and  they  la'tnent 
over  their  doubts  as  a  man  might  lament  over  his 
rheumatism,  making  themselves  out  as  “interesting 
cases  ”  of  especial  and  peculiar  trial,  which  require  trie 
tenderest  sympathy  and  the  utmost  consideration. 

This  is  too  often  true  even  of  believers  who  are 
earnestly  longing  to  enter  upon  the  life  and  walk  of 
faith,  and  who  have  made,  perhaps,  many  steps  to¬ 
wards  it.  They  have  got  rid,  it  may  be,  of  the  old 
doubts  that  once  tormented  them,  as  to  whether  their 
sins  are  really  forgiven,  and  whether  they  shall,  after 
all,  get  safe  to  heaven;  but  they  have  not  got  rid  of 
doubting.  They  have  simply  shifted  the  habit  to  a 


DOUBTS . 


107 


higher  platform.  They  are  sajang,  perhaps,  “Yes,  I 
believe  my  sins  are  forgiven,  and  I  am  a  child  of  God 
through  faith  in  Jesus  Christ.  I  dare  not  doubt  this 
any  more.  But  then  —  ”  and  this  “but  then”  includes 
an  interminable  array  of  doubts  concerning  most  of 
the  declarations  and  promises  our  Father  has  made  to 
His  children.  One  after  another  they  fight  with  these 
promises,  and  refuse  to  believe  them  until  they  can 
have  some  more  reliable  proof  of  their  being  true  than 
the  simple  word  of  their  God  ;  and  then  they  wonder 
why  they  are  permitted  to  walk  in  such  darkness,  and 
look  upon  themselves  almost  in  the  light  of  martyrs, 
and  groan  under  the  peculiar  .spiritual  conflicts  they 
are  compelled  to  endure. 

Spiritual  conflicts!  Far  better  would  they  be  named 
did  we  call  them  spiritual  rebellions!  Our  fight  is  to 
be  a  fight  of  faith  ;  and  the  moment  we  let  in  doubts, 
our  fight  ceases,  and  our  rebellion  begins. 

I  desire  to  put  forth,  if  possible,  a  vigorous  protest 
against  this  whole  thing. 

Just  as  well  might  I  join  in  with  the  laments  of  a 
drunkard,  and  unite  with  him  in  prayer  for  grace  to 
endure  the  discipline  of  his  fatal  appetite,  as  to  give 
way  for  one  instant  to  the  weak  complaints  of  these 
enslaved  souls,  and  try  to  console  them  under  their 
slavey.  To  one  and  to  the  other  I  would  dare  to  do 
nothing  efse  but  proclaim  the  perfect  deliverance  which 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  has  in  store  for  them,  and  beseech, 
entreat,  and  importune  them,  with  all  the  power  at 
my  command,  to  avail  themselves  of  it  and  be  free. 
Not  for  one  moment  would  I  listen  to  their  despairing 
excuses.  You  ought  to  be  free,  you  can  be  free,  you 
must  be  free ! 


108 


SECRET  OF  A  HAPPY  LIFE. 


Will  you  undertake  to  tell  me  that  it  is  an  inevitable 
necessity  for  God  to  be  doubted  by  His  children  ?  Is 
it  an  inevitable  necessity  for  your  children  to  doubt 
y ou  ?  W ould  you  tolerate  their  doubts  a  single  hour  ? 
Would  }rou  pity  your  son,  and  condole  with  him,  and 
feel  that  he  was  an  “interesting  case,”  if  he  should 
come  to  you  and  say,  “Father,  I  am  such  a  doubter 
that  I  cannot  believe  I  am  your  child,  or  that  jrou 
really  love  me  ?  ”  And  yet  how  often  we  hear  a  child 
of  God  excuse  himself  for  his  doubts  by  saying,  “Oh, 
but  I  am  such  a  doubter  that  I  cannot  believe  in  God’s 
love  and  forgiveness;”  and  no  one  seems  shocked  at 
it.  You  might  just  as  well  say,  with  a  like  compla¬ 
cency,  “Oh,  but  I  am  such  a  liar  that  I  cannot  help 
telling  lies,”  and  expect  people  to  consider  it  a  suffi¬ 
cient  excuse.  In  the  sight  of  God,  I  verily  believe 
doubting  is  in  some  cases  as  displeasing  as  lying.  It 
certainly  is  more  dishonoring  to  Him,  for  it  impugns 
his  truthfulness  and  defames  His  character.  John  says 
that  “he  that  believeth  not  God  hath  made  Him  a 
liar;  ”  and  it  seems  to  me  that  hardly  anything  could 
be  worse  than  thus  to  fasten  on  God  the  character  of 
being  a  liar!  Have  you  ever  thought  of  this  as  the 
result  of  3^our  doubting? 

I  remember  seeing  once  the  indignation  and  sorrow 
of  a  mother’s  heart  deeply  stirred  by  a  little  doubting 
on  the  part  of  one  of  her  children.  She  had  brought 
two  little  girls  to  my  house,  to  leave  them  while  she 
did  some  errands.  One  of  them,  with  the  happy  con¬ 
fidence  of  childhood,  abandoned  herself  to  all  the 
pleasures  she  could  find  in  my  nursery,  and  sang  and 
played  until  her  mother’s  return*  The  other  one,  with 
the  wretched  caution  and  mistrust  of  maturity,  sat 


DOUBTS . 


109 


down  alone  in  a  corner,  to  wonder,  first,  whether  her 
mother  would  remember  to  come  back  for  her,  and 
to  fear  she  would  be  forgotten,  and  then  to  imagine 
her  mother  would  be  glad  of  the  chance  to  get  rid  of 
her  anyhow,  because  she  was  such  a  naughty  girl; 
and  ended  with  working  herself  up  into  a  perfect  frenzy 
of  despair.  The  look  on  that  mother’s  face,  when 
upon  her  return  the  weeping  little  girl  told  what  was 
the  matter  with  her,  I  shall  not  easily  forget.  Grief, 
wounded  love,  indignation,  and  pity  all  strove  togeth¬ 
er  for  mastery  ;  and  the  mother  hardly  knew  who  was 
most  at  fault,  herself  or  the  child,  that  such  doubts 
should  be  possible. 

Perhaps  such  doubts  might  be  possible  with  an 
earthly  mother,  but  never,  never  with  God  ;  and  a 
hundred  times  in  my  life  since,  has  that  scene  come  up 
before  me  with  deepest  teaching,  and  has  compelled 
me,  peremptorily,  to  refuse  admittance  to  the  doubts 
about  my  Heavenly  Father’s  love  and  care  and  re¬ 
membrance  of  me,  that  have  clamored  at  the  door  of 
my  heart  for  entrance. 

Doubting  is,  I  am  convinced,  to  many  people  a  real 
luxury,  and  to  deny  themselves  this  luxury  would  be 
the  hardest  piece  of  self-denial  they  have  ever  known. 
It  is  a  luxury  which,  like  the  indulgence  in  some  other 
luxuries,  brings  very  sorrowful  results;  and  perhaps, 
looking  at  the  sadness  and  misery  it  has  brought  into 
your  own  Christian  experience,  you  may  be  inclined 
to  say,  “Alas!  it  is  no  luxury  to  me,  but  only  a  fear¬ 
ful  trial.”  But  pause  for  a  moment.  Try  giving  it 
up,  and  you  will  soon  find  out  whether  it  is  a  luxury 
or  not.  Do  not  your  doubts  come  trooping  to  your 
door  like  a  company  of  sympathizing  friends,  who 


110 


SECRET  OF  A  HAPPY  LIFE. 


appreciate  your  hard  case  and  have  come  to  condole 
with  you?  And  is  it  no  luxury  to  sit  down  with 
them,  and  entertain  them,  and  listen  to  their  argu¬ 
ments,  and  join  in  with  their  condolences?  Would  it 
be  no  self-denial  to  turn  resolute^  from  them,  and  re¬ 
fuse  to  hear  a  word  they  have  to  say  ?  If  }rou  do  not 
know,  try  it  and  see. 

Have  you  never  tasted  the  luxury  of  indulging  in 
hard  thoughts  against  those  who  have,  as  you  think, 
injured  you  ?  Have  you  never  known  what  a  positive 
fascination  it  is  to  brood  over  their  unkindnesses,  and 
to  pry  into  their  malice,  and  to  imagine  all  sorts  of 
wrong  and  uncomfortable  things  about  them?  It  has 
made  you  wretched,  of  course;  but  it  has  been  a  fasci¬ 
nating  sort  of  wretchedness,  that  you  could  not  easily 
give  up. 

Just  like  this  is  the  luxury  of  doubting.  Things 
have  gone  wrong  with  you  in  your  experience.  Dis¬ 
pensations  have  been  mysterious,  temptations  have 
been  peculiar,  your  “case”  has  seemed  different  from 
others.  What  more  natural  than  to  conclude  that  for 
some  reason  God  has  forsaken  you,  and  does  not  love 
you,  and  is  indifferent  to  your  welfare?  How  irre¬ 
sistible  is  the  conviction  that  you  are  too  wicked  for 
Him  to  care  for,  or  too  difficult  for  Him  to  manage! 

You  do  not  mean  to  blame  Him,  or  accuse  Him  of 
injustice,  for  you  feel  that  His  indifference  and  rejec¬ 
tion  of  you  are,  because  of  }Tour  unworthiness,  fully 
deserved ;  and  this  very  subterfuge  leaves  you  at  lib¬ 
erty,  under  the  guise  of  a  just  and  true  appreciation 
of  your  own  shortcomings,  to  indulge  in  your  dishonor¬ 
ing  doubts.  Although  you  think  it  is  yourself  you  are 
doubting,  you  are  really  doubting  the  Lord,  and  are 


DOUBTS . 


Ill 


indulging  in  as  hard  and  wrong  thoughts  of  Him,  as 
ever  j^ou  did  of  a  human  enemy.  For  He  declares  that 
He  came  to  save,  not  the  righteous,  but  sinners;  and 
your  very  sinfulness  and  unworthiness,  instead  of 
being  a  reason  why  He  should  not  love  you  and  care 
for  you,  are  really  your  chiefest  claim  upon  His  love 
and  His  care.  / 

As  well  might  the  poor  little  lamb  that  has  wan¬ 
dered  from  the  flock  and  got  lost  in  the  wilderness  say, 
“I  am  lost,  and  therefore  the  Shepherd  cannot  love 
me,  ncr  care  for  me,  nor  remember  me,'  he  only  loves 
and  cares  for  the  lambs  that  never  wander.”  As  well 
might  the  ill  man  say,  ‘‘I  am  ill,  and  therefore  the 
doctor  will  not  come  to  see  me,  nor  give  me  any  medi¬ 
cine;  he  only  cares  for  and  visits  well  people.”  Jesus 
says,  “They  that  are  whole  need  not  a  pli3rsician,  but 
they  that  are  sick.”  And  again  He  says,  “  What  man 
of  you,  having  an  hundred  sheep,  if  he  lose  one  of  them, 
doth  not  leave  the  ninety  and  nine  in  the  wilderness, 
and  go  after  that  which  is  lost  until  he  find  it  ?” 
Any  thoughts  of  Him,  therefore,  that  are  different 
from  this  which  He  Himself  has  said,  are  hard 
thoughts;  and  to  indulge  in  them  is  far  worse  than 
to  indulge  in  hard  thoughts  of  any  earthly  friend  or  foe. 
From  beginning  to  end  of  your  Christian  life  it  is  al¬ 
ways  sinful  to  indulge  in  doubts.  Doubts  and  dis¬ 
couragements  are  all  from  an  evil  source,  and  are 
always  untrue.  A  direct  and  emphatic  denial  is  the 
only  way  to  meet  them. 

This  brings  me  to  the  practical  part  of  the  whole 
subject,  as  to  how  to  get  deliverance  from  this  fatal 
habit.  My  answer  would  be  that  the  deliverance  from 
tins  must  be  by  the  same  means  as  the  deliverance 


112 


SECRET  OF  A  HAPPY  LIFE. 


from  any  other  sin.  It  is  to  be  found  in  Christ,  and 
in  Him  only.  You  must  hand  your  doubting  over  to 
Him,  as  you  have  learned  to  hand  your  other  tempta¬ 
tions.  You  must  do  with  it  just  what  you  do  with 
your  temper  or  your  pride ;  that  is,  you  must  give  it 
up  to  the  Lord.  I  believe  myself  the  only  effectual 
remedy  is  to  take  a  pledge  against  it.  as  you  would 
urge  a  drunkard  to  do  against  drink,  trusting  in  the 
Lord  alone  to  keep  you  steadfast. 

Like  any  other  sin,  the  stronghold  is  inthe  will,  and 
the  will  or  purpose  to  doubt  must  be  surrendered  ex¬ 
actly  as  you  surrender  the  will  or  purpose  to  yield  to 
any  other  temptation.  God  always  takes  possession 
of  a  surrendered  will ;  and  if  we  come  to  the  point  of 
saying  that  we  will  not  doubt,  and  surrender  this  cen¬ 
tral  fortress  of  our  nature  to  Him,  His  blessed  Spirit 
will  begin  at  once  to  “work  in  us  all  the  good  pleas¬ 
ure  of  His  will,”  and  we  shall  find  ourselves  kept  from 
doubting  by  His  mighty  and  overcoming  power. 

The  trouble  is,  that  in  this  matter  of  doubting  the 
Christian  does  not  always  make  a  full  surrender, 
but  is  apt  to  reserve  a  little  secret  liberty  to  doubt, 
looking  upon  it  as  being  sometimes  a  necessity. 

“I  do  not  want  to  doubt  any  more,”  we  will  say, 
or,  “  I  hope  I  shall  not ;  ”  but  it  is  hard  to  come  to  the 
point  of  saying,  “I  will  not  doubt  again,”  and  no 
surrender  is  effectual  until  it  reaches  the  point  of  say¬ 
ing,  “  I  will  not.”  The  liberty  to  doubt  must  be  given 
up  forever;  and  we  must  consent  to  a  continuous  life 
of  inevitable  trust.  It  is  often  necessary,  I  think,  to 
make  a  definite  transaction  of  this  surrender  of  doubt¬ 
ing,  and  come  to  a  point  about  it.  I  believe  it  is  quite 
as  necessary  in  the  case  of  a  doubter  as  in  the  case  of 


DOUBTS . 


113 


a  drunkard.  It  will  not  do  to  give  it  up  by  degrees. 
The  total-abstinence  principle  is  the  only  effectual  one 
here. 

Then,  the  surrender  once  made,  we  must  rest  abso¬ 
lutely  upon  the  Lord  for  deliverance  in  each  time  of 
temptation.  The  moment  the  assault  comes,  we  must 
lift  up  the  shield  of  faith  against  it.  We  must  hand 
the  very  first  suggestion  of  doubt  over  to  the  Lord, 
and  must  let  Him  manage  it.  We  must  refuse  to  en¬ 
tertain  the  doubt  a  single  moment.  Let  it  come  ever 
so  plausibly,  or  under  whatever  guise  of  humility,  we 
must  simply  say,  “I  dare  not  doubt;  I  must  trust. 
God  is  my  Father,  and  He  does  love  me.  Jesus  saves 
me;  He  saves  me  now.”  Those  three  little  words,  re¬ 
peated  over  and  over,  “Jesus  saves  me,  Jesus  saves 
me,”  will  put  to  flight  the  greatest  army  of  doubts 
that  ever  assaulted  any  soul.  I  have  tried  it  times 
without  number,  and  have  never  known  it  to  fail.  Do 
not  stop  to  argue  out  the  matter  with  yourself  or  with 
your  doubts.  Pay  no  attention  to  them  whatever, 
but  treat  them  with  the  utmost  contempt.  Shut  your 
door  in  their  very  face,  and  emphatically  deny  every 
word  they  say  to  you.  Bring  up  some  “  It  is  written,” 
and  hurl  it  afterthem.  Look  right  at  Jesus,  and  tell 
Him  that  you  do  trust  Him,  and  that  you  intend  to  go 
on  trusting  Him.  Then  let  the  doubts  clamor  as  they 
may,  they  cannot  hurt  you  if  you  will  not  let  them  in. 

I  know  it  will  look  to  you  sometimes  as  though  you 
were  shutting  your  door  against  your  best  friends,  and 
your  hearts  will  long  after  your  doubts  more  than  ever 
the  Israelites  longed  after  the  flesh-pots  of  Egypt.  But 
deny  yourself;  take  up  your  cross  in  this  matter,  and 
quietly  but  firmly  refuse  ever  to  listen  to  a  single  word. 


114 


SECRET  OF  A  HAPPY  LIFE. 


Often  has  it  happened  to  me  to  find,  on  awaking  in 
the  morning,  a  perfect  army  of  doubts  clamoring  at 
my  door  for  admittance.  Nothing  has  seemed  real, 
nothing  has  seemed  true;  and  least  of  all  has  it  seemed 
possible  that  I  —  miserable,  wretched  I  —  could  be  the 
object  of  the  Lord’s  love,  or  care,  or  notice.  If  I  only 
had  been  at  liberty  to  let  these  doubts  in,  and  invite 
them  to  take  seats  and  make  themselves  at  home, 
what  a  luxury  I  should  many  times  have  felt  it  to  be ! 
But  years  ago  I  made  a  pledge  against  doubting,  and 
I  would  as  soon  think  of  violating  my  pledge  against 
intoxicating  liquor  as  of  violating  this  efne.  .  I  have 
never  dared  to  admit  the  first  doubt.  At  such  times, 
therefore,  I  have  been  compelled  to  lift  up  the  “shield 
of  faith’’  the  moment  I  have  become  conscious  of 
these  suggestions  of  doubt;  and  handing  the  whole 
army  over  to  the  Lord  to  conquer,  I  have  begun  to 
assert,  over  and  over,  my  faith  in  Him,  in  the  simple 
words,  “God  is  my  Father;  I  am  his  forgiven  child ; 
He  does  love  me;  Jesus  saves  me;  Jesus  saves  me 
now !  ”  The  victory  has  always  been  complete.  The 
enemy  has  come  in  like  a  flood,  but  the  “Spirit  of  the 
Lord  has  lifted  up  a  standard  against  him,  ”  and  my 
doubts  have  been  put  to  flight.  And  I  have  been  able 
to  join  in  the  song  of  Moses  and  the  children  of  Israel, 
saying,  “I  will  sing  unto  the  Lord,  for  He  hath  tri¬ 
umphed  gloriously:  the  horse  and  his  rider  hath  He 
thrown  into  the  sea.  The  Lord  is  my  strength  and 
song,  and  He  is  become  my  salvation.  ” 

Dear  doubting  souls,  go  and  do  likewise,  and  a 
similar  victory  shall  be  yours.  You  may  think,  per¬ 
haps,  that  doubts  are  a  necessity  in  your  case,  owing 
io  the  peculiarity  of  your  temperament;  but  I  assure 


DOUBTS. 


116 


you  most  emphatically  that  this  is  not  so.  You  are 
no  more  under  a  necessity  to  be  doubtful  as  to  your 
relationships  to  your  Heavenly  Father,  than  you  are 
to  be  doubtful  as  to  your  relationships  to  your  earthly 
father.  -  In  both  cases  the  thing  you  must  depend  on 
is  their  word,  not  your  feelings ;  and  no  earthly  father 
has  ever  declared  or  manifested  his  fatherhood  one 
thousandth  part  as  unmistakably  or  as  lovingly  as 
your  Heavenly  Father  has  declared  and  manifested 
His.  If  you  would  not  “make  God  a  liar,”  therefore, 
you  must  make  your  believing  as  inevitable  and  neces¬ 
sary  a  thitog  as  your  obedience.  You  would  obey 
God,  I  believe,  even  though  you  should  die  in  the  act. 
Believe  Him,  also,  even  though  the  effort  to  believe 
should  cost  you  3^our  Hfe.  The  conflict  may  be  very 
severe;  it  may  seem  at  times  unendurable.  But  let 
your  unchanging  declaration  be  from  henceforth, 
“Though  He  slay  me,  yet  will  I  trust  in  Him.” 
When  doubts  come,  meet  them,  not  with  arguments, 
but  writh  assertions  of  faith.  All  doubts  are  an  attack 
of  the  enemy ;  the  Holy  Spirit  never  suggests  them, 
never.  He  is  the  Comforter,  not  the  Accuser ;  and  He 
never  shows  us  our  need  without  at  the  same  time 
revealing  the  Divine  supply. 

Do  not  give  heed  to  your  doubts,  therefore,  for  a 
moment.  Turn  from  them  with  horror,  as  you  would 
from  blasphemy ;  for  they  are  blasphemy.  You  can¬ 
not  perhaps  hinder  the  suggestions  of  doubt  from 
coming  to  you,  any  more  than  you  can  hinder  the  boys 
in  the  street  from  swearing  as  you  go  by ;  and  conse¬ 
quently  you  are  not  sinning  in  the  one  case  any  more 
than  in  the  other.  But  just  as  you  can  refuse  to  listen 
to  the  boys  or  join  in  their  oaths,  so  can  you  also 


116 


SECRET  OF  A  HAPPY  LIFE. 


refuse  to  listen  to  the  doubts  or  join  in  with  them. 
They  are  not  your  doubts  until  you  consent  to  them 
and  adopt  them  as  time.  When  they  come  you  must 
at  once  turn  from  them  as  you  would  from  swearing. 
Often  a  very  good  practical  way  of  gettingrid  of  them 
is  to  go  at  once  and  confess  your  faith,  in  the  strongest 
language  possible,  somewhere  or  to  some  one.  If  you 
cannot  do  this  by  word  of  mouth,  write  it  in  a  letter, 
or  repeat  it  over  and  over  in  your  heart  to  the  Lord. 

As  you  lay  down  this  book,  therefore,  take  up  your 
pen  and  write  out  your  determination  never  to  doubt 
again.  Make  it  a  real  transaction  between  3^our  soul 
and  the  Lord.  Give  up  your  liberty  to  doubt  forever. 
Put  your  will  in  this  matter  over  on  the  Lord’s  side, 
and  trust  him  to  keep  you  from  falling.  Tell  Him  all 
about  your  utter  weakness  and  your  long-encouraged 
habits  of  doubt,  and  how  helpless  }tou  are  before  it, 
and  commit  the  whole  battle  to  Him.  Tell  Him  you 
will  not  doubt  again,  putting  forth  all  your  will  power 
on  His  side,  and  against  his  enemy  and  yours;  and 
then,  henceiorward,  keep  your  face  steadfastly  “look¬ 
ing  unto  Jesus,”  away  from  yourself  and  away  from 
3rour  doubts,  holding  fast  the  profession  of  3rour  faith 
without  wavering,  because  “He  is  faithful  who  hath 
promised.”  Rely  on  His  faithfulness,  not  on  your 
own.  You  have  committed  the  keeping  of  your  soul 
to  Him  as  unto  a  “faithful  Creator,”  and  you  must 
never  again  admit  the  possibility  of  His  being  unfaith¬ 
ful.  Believe  He  is  faithful,  not  because  you  feel  it,  or  see 
it,  but  because  He  says  He  is.  Believe  it,  whether  you 
feel  it  or  not.  Believe  it,  even  when  it  seems  to  you 
that  you  are  believing  something  that  is  absolutely 
untrue.  Believe  it  actively,  and  believe  it  persistently. 


DOUBTS. 


117 


Cultivate  a  continuous  habit  of  believing,  and  never  let 
your  faith  waver  for  any  “seeming,”  however  plausi¬ 
ble  it  may  be.  The  result  will  be  that  sooner  or  later 
you  will  come  to  know  that  it  is  true,  and  all  doubts 
will  vanish  in  the  blaze  of  the  glory  of  the  absolute 
faithfulness  of  God ! 

It  is  an  inexorable  rule  in  the  spiritual  life  that  ac¬ 
cording  to  our  faith  it  is  to  be  unto  us ;  and  of  course 
this  rule  must  work  both  ways,  and  therefore  we  may 
fairly  expect  that  it  will  be  also  unto  us  according  to 
our  doubts. 

Doubts  and  discouragements  are,  I  believe,  inlets  by 
which  evil  enters,  while  faith  is  an  impregnable  wall 
against  all  evil. 

Dear  doubting  souls,  my  heart  yearns  over  you  with 
a  tender  sympathy !  I  know  your  sincerity  and  your 
earnestness,  and  your  struggles  after  an  abiding  ex¬ 
perience  of  peace  with  God,  through  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ :  and  I  know  also  how  effectually  your  fatal 
habit  of  doubting  has  held  you  back.  I-  would  that 
my  words  might  open  your  eyes  to  see  the  deliverance 
that  lies  at  your  very  door.  Try  m3'  plan,  I  beseech 
of  you,  and  see  if  it  will  not  be  true,  that  “according 
to  your  faith  ”  it  shall  inevitably  be  unto  you. 


118 


SECRET  OF  A  HAPPY  LIFE. 


CHAPTER  X. 


DIFFICULTIES  CONCERNING  TEMPTATIONS. 

ERTAIN  very  great  mistakes  are  made  concern- 


\Z)  ing  this  matter  of  temptation,  in  the  practical 
working  out  of  the  life  of  faith. 

First  of  all,  people  seem  to  expect,  that,  after  the 
soul  has  entered  into  rest  in  the  Lord,  temptations 
will  cease;  and  they  think  that  the  promised  deliver¬ 
ance  is  to  be  not  only  from  }uelding  to  temptation,  but 
even  also  from  being  tempted.  Consequently,  when 
they  find  the  “  Canaanite  still  in  the  land,”  and  see  the 
“cities  great  and  walled  up  to  heaven,”  they  are  utterly 
discouraged,  and  think  the3r  must  have  gone  wrong 
in  some  way,  and  that  this  cannot  be  the  true  land, 
after  all. 

Then,  next,  they  make  the  mistake  of  looking  upon 
temptation  as  sin,  and  of  blaming  themselves  for  sug¬ 
gestions  of  evil,  even  while  they  abhor  them.  This 
brings  them  into  condemnation  and  discouragement ; 
and  discouragement,  if  continued  in,  always  ends  at 
last  in  actual  sin.  Sin  makes  an  easy  prey  of  a  dis¬ 
couraged  soul ;  so  that  we  fall  often  from  the  very  fear 
of  having  fallen. 

To  meet  the  first  of  these  difficulties,  it  Is  only  neces¬ 
sary  to  refer  to  the  Scripture  declarations  which  state 
that  the  Christian  life  is  to  be  throughout  a  warfare; 


TEMPTATION . 


119 


and  that  it  is  to  be  especially  so  when  we  are  “seated 
in  heavenly  places  in  Christ  Jesus,”  and  are  called  to 
wrestle  against  spiritual  enemies,  whose  power  and 
skill  to  tempt  us  must  doubtless  be  far  superior  to 
any  we  have  ever  heretofore  encountered.  As  a  fact, 
temptations  generally  increase  in  strength  tenfold, 
after  we  have  entered  into  the  interior  life,  rather 
than  decrease  ;  and  no  amount  or  sort  of  them  must 
ever  for  a  moment  lead  us  to  suppose  we  have  not 
really  found  the  true  abiding  place.  Strong  tempta¬ 
tions  are  often  more  a  sign  of  great  grace,  than  of 
little  grace.  When  the  children  of  Israel  had  first 
left  Egypt,  the  Lord  did  not  lead  them  through  the 
country  of  the  Philistines,  although  that  was  the  near¬ 
est  way;  “for  God  said,  Lest  peradventure  the  people 
repent  when  they  see  war,  and  they  return  to  Egypt.” 
But  afterwards,  when  they  had  learned  how.  to  trust 
Him  better,  he  permitted  theirenemies  to  attack  them 
Moreover,  even  in  their  wilderness  journey  they  met 
with  but  few  enemies,  and  fought  but  few  battles,  com¬ 
pared  to  those  they  encountered  in  the  land  of  Canaan, 
where  they  found  seven  great  nations  and  thirty-one 
kings  to  be  conquered,  besides  walled  cities  to  be 
taken,  and  giants  to  be  overcome. 

They  could  not  have  fought  with  the  “  Canaanites, 
and  the  Hittites,  and  the  Amorites,  and  the  Periz- 
zites,  and  the  Hivites,  and  the  Jebusites,”  until  they 
had  gone  into  the  land  where  these  enemies  were. 
The  very  power  of  your  temptations,  dear  Christian, 
therefore,  may  perhaps  be  one  of  the  strongest  proofs 
that  you  really  are  in  the  land  of  promise  you  have 
been  seeking  to  enter,  because  they  are  temptations 
oeculiar  to* that  land;  consequently  you  must  never 


120 


SECRET  OF  A  HAPPY  LIFE. 


allow  them  to  cause  you  to  question  the  fact  of  your 
having  entered  it. 

The  second  mistake  is  not  quite  so  easy  to  deal 
with.  It  seems  hardly  worth  while  to  say  that  temp¬ 
tation  is  not  sin,  and  yet  much  distress  arises  from 
not  understanding  this  fact.  The  very  suggestion  of 
wrong  seems  to  bring  pollution  with  it;  and  the  poor 
tempted  soul  begins  to  feel  as  if  it  must  be  very  bad 
indeed,  and  very  far  off  from  God,  to  have  had  such 
thoughts  and  suggestions.  It  is  as  though  a  burglar 
should  break  into  a  man’s  house  to  steal,  and,  when 
the  master  of  the  house  begins  to  resist  him  and  drive 
him  out,  should  turn  round  and  accuse  the  owner  of 
being  himself  the  thief.  It  is  the  enemy’s  grand  ruse 
for  entrapping  us.  He  comes  and  whispers  sugges¬ 
tions  of  evil  to  us, —  doubts,  blasphemies,  jealousies, 
envyings,  and  pride, —  and  then  turns  round  and  says, 
“Oh,  how  wicked  you  must  be  to  think  such  things! 
It  is  very  plain  that  3rou  are  not  trusting  the  Lord; 
for  if  you  had  been,  it  would  be  impossible  for  these 
things  to  have  entered  your  heart.”  This  reasoning 
sounds  so  very  plausible  that  we  often  accept  it 
as  true,  and  so  come  under  condemnation,  and  are 
filled  with  discouragement;  and  then  it  is  easy  for 
temptation  to  develop  into  actual  sin.  One  of  the 
most  fatal  things  in  the  life  of  faith  is  discourage¬ 
ment  ;  one  of  the  most  helpful  is  confidence.  A  very 
wise  man  once  said  that  in  overcoming  tempta¬ 
tions  confidence  was  the  first  thing,  confidence  the 
second,  and  confidence  the  third.  We  must  expect 
to  conquer.  That  is  why  the  Lord  said  so  often  to 
Joshua,  “Be  strong  and  of  a  good  courage;”  “Be 
not  afraid,  neither  be  thou  dismayed;’*  “Only  be 


TEMPTATION. 


121 


thou  strong  and  very  courageous.”  And  it  is  also 
the  reason  He  says  to  us,  “Let  not  your  heart  be 
troubled,  neither  let  it  be  afraid.”  The  power  of 
temptation  is  in  the  fainting  of  our  own  hearts.  The 
enemy  knows  this  well,  and  he  always  begins  his 
assaults  by  discouraging  us,  if  he  can  in  any  way 
accomplish  it. 

This  discouragement  arises  sometimes  from  what 
we  think  is  a  righteous  grief  and  disgust  at  ourselves 
that  such  things  could  be  any  temptation  to  us.  but 
which  is  really  mortification  coming  from  the  fact  that 
we  have  been  indulging  in  a  secret  self-congratula¬ 
tion  that  our  tastes  were  too  pure,  or  our  separation 
from  the  world  was  too  complete,  for  such  things  to 
tempt  us.  We  are  discouraged  because  we  have 
expected  something  from  ourselves,  and  have  been 
sorely  disappointed  not  to  find  that  something  there. 
This  mortification  and  discouragement,  though  they 
present  an  appearance  of  true  humility,  are  really  a 
far  worse  condition  than  the  temptation  itself,  for 
they  are  nothing  but  the  results  of  wounded  self-love. 
True  humility  can  bear  to  see  its  own  utter  weakness 
and  foolishness  revealed,  because  it  never  expected 
anything  from  itself,  and  knows  that  its  only  hope 
and  expectation  must  be  in  God.  Therefore,  instead 
of  discouraging  the  humble  soul  from  trusting,  such 
revelations  drive  it  to  a  deeper  and  more  utter  trust. 
But  the  counterfeit  humilit}^,  that  self-love  produces, 
plunges  the  soul  into  the  depths  of  a  faithless  discour¬ 
agement,  and  drives  it  into  the  very  sin  with  which  it 
is  so  distressed. 

There  is  an  allegory  that  illustrates  this  to  me 
wonderfully.  Satan  called  together  a  council  of  his 


122 


SECRET  OF  A  HAPPY  LIFE . 


servants  to  consult  how  they  might  make  a  good  man 
sin.  One  evil  spirit  started  up  and  said,  “  I  will  make 
him  sin.”  “How  will  you  do  it?”  asked  Satan.  “I 
will  set  before  him  the  pleasures  of  sin,”  was  the  re¬ 
ply;  “I  will  tell  him  of  its  delights,  and  the  rich 
rewards  it  brings.”  “Ah,” said  Satan,  “that will  not 
do;  he  has  tried  it,  and  knows  better  than  that.” 
Then  another  imp  started  up  and  said,  “I  will  make 
himsin.”  “What  will  you  do?”  asked  Satan.  “Iwill 
tell  him  of  the  pains  and  sorrows  of  virtue.  I  will 
show  him  that  virtue  has  no  delights,  and  brings  no 
rewards.”  “Ah,  no!”  exclaimed  Satan,  “that  will 
not  do  at  all ;  for  he  has  tried  it,  and  knows  that 
‘Wisdom’s  ways  are  ways  of  pleasantness,  and  all  her 
paths  are  peace.’  ”  “Well,”  said  another  imp,  starting 
up,  “  I  will  undertake  to  make  him  sin.”  “  And  what 
will  you  do  ?  ”  asked  Satan,  again.  “I  will  discourage 
his  soul,”  was  the  short  reply.  “Ah,  that  will  do!” 
cried  Satan;  “that  will  do!  We  shall  conquer  him 
now.” 

An  old  writer  sa}rs,  “All  discouragement  is  from  the 
devil;  ”  and  I  wish  every  Christian  would  take  this  as 
a  motto,  and  would  realize  that  he  must  fly  from  dis¬ 
couragement  as  he  would  from  sin. 

But  if  we  fail  to  recognize  the  truth  about  tempta¬ 
tion,  this  is  impossible;  for  if  the  temptations  are  our 
own  fault,  we  cannot  help  being  discouraged.  But 
they  are  not.  The  Bible  says,  “Blessed  is  the  man 
that  endureth  temptation;”  and  we  are  exhorted  to 
“count  it  all  joy  when  we  fall  into  divers  tempta¬ 
tions.”  Temptation,  therefore,  cannot  be  sin;  and  the 
truth  is,  it  is  no  more  a  sin  to  hear  these  whispers 
and  suggestions  of  evil  in  our  souls,  than  it  is  for  us  to 


TEMPTATION. 


123 


hear  the  wicked  talk  of  bad  men  as  we  pass  along  the 
street.  The  sin  comes,  in  either  case,  only  by  our 
stopping  and  joining  in  with  therm  If,  when  the 
wicked  suggestions  come,  we  turn  from  them  at  ©nee, 
as  we  would  from  wicked  talk,  and  pay  no  more  at¬ 
tention  to  them  than  we  would  to  the  talk,  we  do  not 
sin.  But  if  we  carry  them  on  in  our  minds,  and  roll 
them  under  our  tongues,  and  dwell  on  them  with  a 
half  consent  of  our  will  to  them  as  true,  then  we  sin. 
We  may  be  enticed  by  temptations  a  thousand  times  a 
day  without  sin,  and  we  cannot  help  these  enticings, 
and  are  not  to  blame  for  them.  But  if  we  begin  to 
think  that  these  enticings  are  actual  sin  on  our  part, 
then  the  battle  is  half  lost  alread}^,  and  the  sin  can 
hardly  fail  to  gain  a  complete  victory. 

A  dear  lady  once  came  to  me  under  great  darkness, 
simply  from  not  understanding  this.  She  had  been 
living  very  happily  in  the  life  of  faith  for  some  time, 
and  had  been  so  free  from  temptation  as  almost  to 
begin  to  think  she  would  never  be  tempted  again. 
But  suddenly  a  very  peculiar  form  of  temptation  had 
assailed  her,  which  had  horrified  her.  She  found  that 
the  moment  she  began  to  pray,  dreadful  thoughts  of 
all  kinds  would  rush  into  her  mind.  She  had  lived  a 
very  sheltered,  innocent  life;  and  these  thoughts 
seemed  so  awful  to  her  that  she  felt  she  must  be  one 
of  the  most  wicked  of  sinners  to  be  capable  of  having 
them.  She  began  by  thinking  that  she  could  not  pos¬ 
sibly  have  entered  into  the  rest  of  faith,  and  ended  by 
concluding  that  she  had  never  even  been  born  again. 
Her  soul  was  in  an  agony  of  distress.  I  told  her  that 
these  dreadful  thoughts  were  purely  and  simply  temp¬ 
tations,  and  that  she  herself  was  not  to  blame  for 


124 


SECRET  OF  A  HAPPY  LIFE. 


them  at  all ;  that  she  could  not  help  them  any  more 
than  she  could  help  hearing  if  a  wicked  man  should 
pour  out  his  blasphemies  in  her  presence.  And  I 
urged  her  to  recognize  and  treat  them  as  temptations 
only,  and  not  to  blame  herself  or  be  discouraged,  but 
rather  to  turn  at  once  to  the  Lord  and  commit  them 
to  Him.  I  showed  her  how  great  an  advantage  the 
enemy  had  gained  b}r  making  her  think  these  thoughts 
were  originated  by  herself,  and  by  plunging  her  into 
condemnation  and  discouragement  on  account  of 
them.  And  I  assured  her  she  would  find  a  speedy 
victory  if  she  would  pay  no  attention  to  them;  but, 
ignoring  their  presence,  would  simply  turn  her  back 
on  them  and  look  to  the  Lord. 

She  grasped  the  truth,  and  the  next  time  these 
blasphemous  thoughts  came,  she  said  inwardly  to  the 
enemy,  “I  have  found  you  out  now.  It  is  you  who 
are  suggesting  these  dreadful  thoughts  to  me,  and  I 
hate  them,  and  will  have  nothing  to  do  with  them. 
The  Lord  is  my  helper;  take  them  to  Him,  and  settle 
them  in  His  presence.”  Immediately  the  baffled 
enemy,  finding  himself  discovered,  fled  in  confusion, 
and  her  soul  was  perfectly  delivered. 

Another  thing  also.  Our  spiritual  enemies  know 
that  if  a  Christian  recognizes  a  suggestion  of  evil  as 
coming  from  them,  he  will  recoil  from  it  far  more 
quickly  than  if  it  seems  to  be  the  suggestion  of  his 
own  mind.  If  the  devil  prefaced  each  temptation 
with  the  words  “I  am  the  devil,  your  relentless 
enemy;  I  have  come  to  make  you  sin,”  I  suppose  we 
would  hardly  feel  any  desire  at  all  to  yield  to  his  sug¬ 
gestions.  He  has  to  hide  himself  in  order  to  make 
his  baits  attractive.  And  our  victory  will  be  far  more 


TEMPTATION . 


125 


easily  gained  if  we  are  not  ignorant  of  his  devices, 
but  recognize  them  at  his  very  first  approach. 

We  also  make  another  great  mistake  about  tempta¬ 
tions,  in  thinking  that  all  time  spent  in  combating 
them  is  lost.  Hours  pass,  and  we  seem  to  have 
made  no  progress,  because  we  have  been  so  beset 
with  temptations.  But  it  often  happens  that  we  have 
been  serving  God  far  more  truly  during  these  hours, 
than  in  our  times  of  comparative  freedom  from  temp¬ 
tation.  For  we  are  fighting  our  Lord’s  battles  when 
we  are  fighting  temptation,  and  hours  are  often 
worth  days  to  us  under  these  circumstances.  We 
read,  “  Blessed  is  the  man  that  endureth  temptation,” 
and  I  am  sure  this  means  enduring  the  continuance 
of  it  and  its  frequent  recurrence.  Nothing  so  culti¬ 
vates  the  grace  of  patience  as  the  endurance  of  temp¬ 
tation,  and  nothing  so  drives  the  soul  to  an  utter 
dependence  upon  the  Lord  Jesus  as  its  continuance. 
And  finally ,  nothing  brings  more  praise  and  honor 
and  glory  to  our  Lord  Himself,  than  the  trial  of 
our  faith  that  comes  through  manifold  temptations. 
We  are  told  that  it  is  “more  precious  than  gold, 
though  it  be  tried  with  fire,3”  and  that  we,  who  pa¬ 
tiently  endure  the  trial,  shall  receive  for  our  reward 

the  crown  of  life  which  the  Lord  hath  promised  to 
them  that  love  Him.” 

We  cannot  wonder,  therefore,  any  longer  at  the 
exhortation  with  which  the  Holy  Ghost  opens  the 
Book  of  James:  “Count  it  all  joy  when  ye  fall  into 
divers  temptations;  knowing  this,  that  the  trying  of 
your  faith  worketh,  patience.  But  let  patience  have 
her  perfect  work,  that  ye  may  be  perfect  and  entire, 
wanting  nothing.” 


126 


SECRET  OP  A  HAPP  Y  LIFE . 


Temptation  is  plainly  one  of  the  instruments  used 
by  God  to  complete  our  perfection;  and  thus  sin’s 
own  weapons  are  turned  against  itself,  and  we  see 
how  it  is  that  all  things,  even  temptations,  can  work 
together  for  good  to  them  that  love  God. 

As  to  the  way  of  victory  over  temptation,  it  seems 
hardly  necessary  to  say  to  those  whom  I  am  at  this 
time  especially  addressing,  that  it  is  to  be  by  faith; 
for  this  is,  of  course,  the  foundation  upon  which  the 
whole  interior  life  rests.  Our  one  great  motto  is 
throughout,  “We  are  nothing:  Christ  is  all;”  and 
always  and  everywhere  we  have  started  out  to  stand, 
and  walk,  and  overcome,  and  live  by  faith.  We  have 
discovered  our  own  utter  helplessness,  and  know  that 
we  cannot  do  anything  for  ourselves;  and  we  have 
learned  that  our  only  way,  therefore,  is  to  hand  the 
temptation  over  to  our  Lord,  and  trust  Him  to  con¬ 
quer  it  for  us.  But  when  w-e  put  it  into  His  hands, 
we  must  leave  it  there.  The  greatest  difficulty  of  all 
is,  I  think,  this  leaving.  It  seems  impossible  to  be¬ 
lieve  that  the  Lord  can  or  will  manage  our  temp¬ 
tations  without  our  help,  especially  if  they  do  not 
immediately  disappear.  To  go  on  patiently  “endur¬ 
ing”  the  continuance  of  a  temptation  without  yield¬ 
ing  to  it,  and  also  without  snatching  ourselves  out  of 
the  Lord’s  hands  in  regard  to  it,  is  a  wonderful  vic¬ 
tory  for  our  impatient  natures;  but  it  is  a  victory  we 
must  gain,  if  we  would  do  what  will  please  God. 

We  must  then  commit  ourselves  as  really  to  the 
Lord  for  victory  over  our  temptations,  as  we  com¬ 
mitted  ourselves  at  first  for  forgiveness;  and  we  must 
leave  ourselves  just  as  utterly  in  His  hands  for  one  as 
for  the  other. 


TEMPTATION. 


1 2? 


Thousands  of  God’s  children  have  done  this,  and 
can  testify  to-day  that  marvelous  victories  have  been 
gained  for  them  over  numberless  temptations,  and 
that  they  have  in  very  truth  been  made  “more  than 
conquerors”  through  Him  who  loves  them. 

But  into  this  part  of  the  subject  I  cannot  go  at 
present,  as  my  object  has  been  rather  to  present 
temptation  in  its  true  light,  than  to  develop  the  way 
of  victory  over  it.  I  desire  greatly  that  conscientious, 
faithful  souls  should  be  delivered  from  the  bondage 
into  which  they  are  sure  to  be  brought,  if  they  fail  to 
understand  the  true  nature  and  use  of  temptation,  and 
confound  it  with  sin.  When  temptation  is  recognized 
as  temptation,  we  shall  be  able  to  say  at  once,  “Get 
thee  behind  me;”  and  shall  walk  even  through  the 
midst  of  the  fiercest  assaults  with  unclouded  and  tri¬ 
umphant  peace;  knowing  that,  “when  the  enemy  shall 
come  in  like  a  flood,  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord  shall  lift  up 
a  standard  against  him.  ” 


y 


128 


SECRET  OE  A  HAPPY  LIFE. 


CHAPTER  XI. 

DIFFICULTIES  CONCERNING  FAILURES. 

T£HE  very  title  of  this  chapter  may  perhaps  startle 
some.  “Failures,”  they  will  say;  "“we  thought 
there  were  no  failures  in  this  life  of  faith !  ” 

To  this  I  would  answer  that  there  ought  not  to  be, 
and  need  not  be;  but,  as  a  fact,  there  sometimes  are, 
and  we  must  deal  with  facts,  and  not  with  theories. 
No  safe  teacher  of  this  interior  life  ever  says  that  it 
becomes  impossible  to  sin ;  they  only  insist  that  sin 
ceases  to  be  a  necessity,  and  that  a  possibility  of  con¬ 
tinual  victory  is  opened  before  us.  And  there  are  very 
few,  if  any,  who  do  not  confess  that,  as  to  their  own 
actual  experience,  they  have  at  times  been  overcome 
by  at  least  a  momentary  temptation. 

Of  course,  in  speaking  of  sin  here,  I  mean  conscious, 
known  sin.  I  do  not  touch  on  the  subject  of  sins  of 
ignorance,  or  what  is  called  the  inevitable  sin  of  our 
nature,  which  are  all  met  by  the  provisions  of  Christ, 
and  do  not  disturb  our  fellowship  with  God.  I  have 
no  desire  nor  ability  to  treat  of  the  doctrines  concern¬ 
ing  sin  ;  these  I  will  leave  with  the  theologians  to  dis' 
cuss  and  settle,  while  I  speak  only  of  the  believer’s  ex¬ 
perience  in  the  matter. 

There  are  many  things  which  we  do  innocently 
enough  until  an  increasing  light  shows  them  to  be 
wrong,  and  these  may  all  be  classed  under  sins  of 


FAILURES. 


129 


ignorance;  but  because  they  are  done  in  ignorance 
they  do  not  bring  us  under  condemnation,  and  do  not 
come  within  the  range  of  the  present  discussion. 

An  illustration  of  this  occurred  once  in  my  presence. 
A  little  baby  girl  was  pla\dng  about  the  library  one 
warm  summer  afternoon,  while  her  father  was  resting 
on  the  lounge.  A  pretty  inkstand  on  the  table  took 
the  child’s  fancy,  and,  unnoticed  by  any  one,  she 
climbed  on  a  chair  and  secured  it.  Then,  walking  over 
to  her  father  with  an  air  of  childish  triumph,  she 
turned  it  upside  down  on  the  white  expanse  of  his 
shirt  bosom,  and  laughed  with  glee  as  she  saw  the 
black  streams  trickling  down  on  every  side. 

This  was  a  very  wrong  thing  for  the  child  to  do,  but 
it  could  not  be  called  sin,  for  she  knew  no  better.  Had 
she  been  older,  and  been  made  to  understand  that  ink- 
stands  were  not  playthings,  it  would  have  been  sin. 
“To  him  that  knoweth  to  do  good  and  doeth  it  not, 
to  him  it  is  sin;  ’’  and  in  all  I  shall  say  concerning  sin 
in  this  chapter,  I  desire  it  to  be  fully  understood  that 
I  have  reference  simply  to  that  which  comes  within  the 
range  of  our  consciousness. 

Misunderstanding,  then,  on  this  point  of  known  or 
conscious  sin,  opens  the  way  for  great  dangers  in  the 
life  of  faith.  When  a  believer,  who  has,  as  he  trusts, 
entered  upon  the  highway  of  holiness,  finds  himself 
surprised  into  sin,  he  is  tempted  either  to  be  utterly 
discouraged,  and  to  give  everything  up  as  lost;  or  else 
in  order  to  preserve  the  doctrines  untouched,  he  feels 
it  necesary  to  cover  his  sin  up,  calling  it  infirmity,  and 
refusing  to  be  candid  and  above-board  about  it. 
Either  of  these  courses  is  equally  fatal  to  any  real 
growth  and  progress  in  the  life  of  holiness.  The  only 


130 


SECRET  OF  A  HAPPY  LIFE . 


way  is  to  face  the  sad  fact  at  once,  call  the  thing  by 
its  right  name,  and  discover,  if  possible,  the  reason  and 
the  remedy.  This  life  of  union  with  God  requires  the 
utmost  honesty  with  Him  and  with  ourselves.  The 
blessing  that  the  sin  itself  would  only  momentarily 
disturb,  is  sure  to  be  lost  by  any  dishonest  dealing 
with  it.  A  sudden  failure  is  no  reason  for  being  dis¬ 
couraged  and  giving  up  all  as  lost.  Neither  is  the  in¬ 
tegrity  of  our  doctrine  touched  by  it.  We  are  not 
preaching  a  state ,  but  a  walk.  The  highway  of  holi¬ 
ness  is  not  a  place,  but  a  way.  Sanctification  is  not  a 
thing  to  be  picked  up  at  a  certain  stage  of  our  exper¬ 
ience,  and  forever  after  possessed,  but  it  is  a  life  to  be 
lived  day  by  day,  and  hour  by  hour.  We  may  for  a 
moment  turn  aside  from  a  path,  but  the  path  is  not 
obliterated  by  our  wandering,  and  can  be  instantly  re¬ 
gained.  And  in  this  life  and  walk  of  faith,  there  may 
be  momentary  failures  that,  although  very  sad  and 
greatly  to  be  deplored,  need  not,  if  rightly  met,  disturb 
the  attitude  of  the  soul  as  to  entire  consecration  and 
perfect  trust,  nor  interrupt,  for  more  than  the  passing 
moment,  its  happy  communion  with  its  Lord. 

The  great  point  is  an  instant  return  to  God.  Our 
sin  is  no  reason  for  ceasing  to  trust,  but  only  an  unan¬ 
swerable  argument  why  we  must  trust  more  fully  than 
ever.  From  whatever  cause  we  have  been  betrayed 
into  failure,  it  is  very  certain  that  there  is  no  remedy 
to  be  found  in  discouragement.  As  well  might  a  child 
who  is  learning  to  walk,  lie  down  in  despair  when  he 
has  fallen,  and  refuse  to  take  another  step,  as  a  be¬ 
liever,  who  is  seeking  to  learn  howto  liveand  walk  by 
faith,  give  up  in  despair  because  of  having  fallen  into 
sin.  The  only  way  in  both  cases  is  to  get  right  up  and 


FAILURES. 


131 


try  again.  When  the  children  of  Israel  had  met 
with  that  disastrous  defeat,  soon  after  their  entrance 
into  the  land,  before  the  little  city  of  Ai,  they  were  all 
so  utterly  discouraged  that  we  read :  “  Wherefore  the 
hearts  of  the  people  melted,  and  became  as  water. 
And  Joshua  rent  his  clothes,  and  fell  to  the  earth  upon 
his  face  before  the  ark  of  the  Lord  until  the  eventide, 
he  and  the  elders  of  Israel,  and  put  dust  upon  their 
heads.  And  Joshua  said,  Alas,  0  Lord  God,  wherefore 
hast  thou  at  all  brought  this  people  over  Jordan,  to 
deliver  us  into  the  hand  of  the  Amorites,  to  destroy  us? 
Would  to  God  we  had  been  content,  and  dwelt  on  the 
other  side  Jordan!  O  Lord,  what  shall  I  say,  when 
Israel  turneth  their  backs  before  their  enemies!  For 
the  Canaanites  and  all  the  inhabitants  of  the  land 
shall  hear  of  it  and  shall  environ  us  round,  and  cut  off 
our  name  from  the  earth :  and  what  will  thou  do  unto 
thy  great  name  ?  ” 

What  a  wail  of  despair  this  was!  And  how  ex¬ 
actly  it  is  repeated  by  many  a  child  of  God  in  the 
present  day,  whose  heart,  because  of  a  defeat,  melts 
and  becomes  as  water,  and  who  cries  out,  “  Would  to 
God  we  had  been  content  and  dwelt  on  the  other  side 
Jordan!”  and  predicts  for  itself  further  failures  and 
even  utter  discomfiture  before  its  enemies.  No  doubt 
Joshua  thought  then,  as  we  are  apt  to  think  now, 
that  discouragement  and  despair  were  the  only  proper 
and  safe  condition  after  such  a  failure.  But  God 
thought  otherwise.  “And  the  Lord  said  unto  Joshua, 
Get  thee  up;  wherefore  liest  thou  upon  thy  face?” 
The  proper  thing  to  do,  was  not  to  abandon  them¬ 
selves  thus  to  utter  discouragement,  humble  as  it 
might  look,  but  at  once  to  face  the  evil  and  get  rid  of 


132 


SECRET  OF  A  HAPPY  LIFE. 


it,  and  afresh  and  immediately  to  “sanctify  them¬ 
selves.” 

“Up,  sanctify  the  people,”  is  always  God's  com¬ 
mand.  “Lie  down  and  be  discouraged,”  is  always  our 
temptation.  Our  feeling  is  that  it  is  presumptuous, 
and  even  almost  impertinent,  to  go  at  once  to  the 
Lord,  after  having  sinned  against  Him.  It  seems  as 
if  we  ought  to  suffer  the  consequences  of  our  sin  first 
for  a  little  while,  and  endure  the  accusings  of  our 
conscience ;  and  we  can  hardly  believe  that  the  Lord 
can  be  willing  at  once  to  receive  us  back  into  loving 
fellowship  with  Himself. 

A  little  girl  once  expressed  this  feeling  to  me,  with 
a  child’s  outspoken  candor.  She  had  asked  whether 
the  Lord  Jesus  always  forgave  us  for  our  sins  as  soon 
as  we  asked  Him,  and  I  had  said,  “Yes,  of  course  He 
does.”  “ Just  as  soon?”  she  repeated  doubtingly. 
“Yes,”  I  replied,  “the  very  minute  we  ask,  He  for¬ 
gives  us.”  “Well,”  she  said  deliberately,  “I  cannot 
believe  that.  I  should  think  He  would  make  us  feel 
sorry  for  two  or  three  days  first.  And  then  I  should 
think  He  would  make  us  ask  Him  a  great  many  times, 
and  in  a  very  pretty  way  too,  not  just  in  common  talk. 
And  I  believe  that  is  the  way  He  does,  and  you  need 
not  try  to  make  me  think  He  forgives  me  right  at 
once,  no  matter  what  the  Bible  says.”  She  only  said 
what  most  Christians  think,  and  what  is  worse,  what 
most  Christians  act  on,  making  their  discouragement 
and  their  very"  remorse  separate  them  infinitely  further 
off  from  God  than  their  sin  would  have  done.  Yet  it 
is  so  totally  contrary  to  the  way  we  like  our  children 
to  act  toward  us,  that  I  wonder  how  we  ever  could 
have  conceived  such  an  idea  of  God.  How  a  mother 


FAILURES. 


133 


grieves  when  a  naughty  child  goes  off  alone  in  de¬ 
spairing  remorse,  and  doubts  her  willingness  to  for¬ 
give;  and  how,  on  the  other  hand,  her  whole  heart 
goes  out  in  welcoming  love  to  the  repentant  little  one 
who  runs  to  her  at  once  and  begs  her  forgiveness! 
Surely  our  God  felt  this  yearning  love  when  He  said 
to  us,  “Return,  ye  backsliding  children,  and  I  will 
heal  your  backslidings.” 

The  fact  is,  that  the  same  moment  which  brings  the 
consciousness  of  sin  ought  to  bring  also  the  confes¬ 
sion  and  the  consciousness  of  forgiveness.  This  is 
especially  essential  to  an  unwavering  walk  in  the  “life 
hid  with  Christ  in  God,”  for  no  separation  from  Him 
can  be  tolerated  here  for  an  instant. 

We  can  only  walk  this  path  by  “looking  continu¬ 
ally  unto  Jesus,’’  moment  by  moment ;  and  if  our  eyes 
are  turned  away  from  Him  to  look  upon  our  own  sin 
and  our  own  weakness,  we  shall  leave  the  path  at  once. 
The  believer,  therefore,  who  has,  as  he  trusts,  entered 
upon  this  highway,  if  he  finds  himself  overcome  by 
sin,  must  flee  with  it  instantly  to  the  Lord.  He  must 
act  on  1  John  i.  9,  “If  we  confess  our  sins,  He  is 
faithful  and  just  to  forgive  us  our  sins,  and  to  cleanse 
us  from  all  unrighteousness.’’  He  must  not  hide  his 
sin,  and  seek  to  salve  it  over  with  excuses,  or  to  push 
it  out  of  his  memory  by  the  lapse  of  time.  But  he 
must  do  as  the  children  of  Israel  did,  rise  up  “  early 
in  the  morning,’’  and  “run”  to  the  place  where  the 
evil  thing  is  hidden,  and  take  it  out  of  its  hiding- 
place,  and  lay  it  “out  before  the  Lord.”  He  must 
confess  his  sin.  And  then  he  must  stone  it  with 
stones,  and  burn  it  with  fire,  and  utterly  put  it  awa}r 
from  him,  and  raise  over  it  a  great  heap  of  stones, that  it 


134 


SECRET  OF  A  HAPPY  LIFE. 


may  be  forever  hidden  from  his  sight.  And  he  must 
believe,  then  and  there,  that  God  .is ,  according  to  His 
word,  faithful  and  just  to  forgive  him  his  sin,  and  that 
He  does  do  it;  and  further,  that  He  also  cleanses  him 
from  all  unrighteousness.  He  must  claim  by  faith  an 
immediate  forgiveness  and  an  immediate  cleansing, 
and  must  go  on  trusting  harder  and  more  absolutely 
than  ever. 

As  soon  as  Israel’s  sin  had  been  brought  to  light 
and  put  away,  at  once  God’s  word  came  again  in 
a  message  of  glorious  encouragement:  “Fear  not, 
neither  be  thou  dismayed ....  See,  I  have  given 
into  thy  hand  the  king  of  Ai,  and  his  people,  and  his 
city,  and  his  land.”  Our  courage  must  rise  higher 
than  ever,  and  we  must  abandon  ourselves  more  com¬ 
pletely  to  the  Lord,  that  His  might}^  power  may  the 
more  perfectly  “work  in  us  all  the  good  pleasure  of 
His  will.”  Moreover,  we  must  forget  our  sin  as  soon 
as  it  is  thus  confessed  and  forgiven.  We  must  not 
dwell  on  it,  and  examine  it,  and  indulge  in  a  luxury  of 
distress  and  remorse.  We  must  not  put  it  on  a  ped¬ 
estal,  and  then  walk  around  it  and  view  it  on  every 
side,  and  so  magnify  it  into  a  mountain  that  hides 
God  from  our  eyes.  We  must  follow  the  example  of 
Paul,  and,  “forgetting  those  things  which  are  behind, 
and  reaching  forth  unto  those  things  which  are  be¬ 
fore,”  we  must  “  press  toward  the  mark  for  the  prize 
of  the  high  calling  of  God  in  Christ  Jesus.” 

Let  me  recall  two  contrasting  illustrations  of  these 
things.  One  was  an  earnest  Christian  man,  an  active 
worker  in  the  Church,  who  had  been  living  for  several 
months  in  an  experience  of  great  peace  and  joy.  He 
was  suddenly  overcome  by  a  temptation  to  treat  a 


FAILURES. 


135 


brother  unkindly.  Having  supposed  it  to  be  an  impos¬ 
sibility  that  he  could  ever  so  sin  again,  he  was  plunged 
at  once  into  the  deepest  discouragement,  and  con¬ 
cluded  he  had  been  altogether  mistaken,  and  had  never 
entered  into  the  life  of  full  trust  at  all.  Day  by  day  his 
discouragement  increased  until  it  became  despair,  and 
he  concluded  at  last  that  he  had  never  even  been  born 
again,  and  gave  himself  up  for  lost.  He  spent  three 
years  of  utter  misery,  going  farther  and  farther  away 
from  God,  and  being  gradually  drawn  off  into  one  sin 
after  another,  until  his  life  was  a  curse  to  himself  and 
to  all  around  him.  His  health  failed  under  the  terrible 
burden,  and  fears  were  entertained  for  his  reason.  At 
the  end  of  three  years  he  met  a  Christian  lady,  who 
understood  this  truth  about  sin  that  I  have  been  try¬ 
ing  to  explain.  In  a  few  moments’  conversation  she 
found  out  his  trouble,  and  at  onee  said,  “You  sinned 
in  that  act,  there  is  no  doubt  about  it,  and  I  do  not 
want  you  to  try  to  excuse  it.  But  have  3^ou  never 
confessed  it  to  the  Lord  and  asked  Him  to  forgive 
you  ?  ”  “  Confessed  it !  ”  he  exclaimed,  “  why,  it  seems 

to  me  I  have  done  nothing  but  confess  it,  and  entreat 
God  to  forgive  me,  night  and  day,  for  all  these  three 
dreadful  years.”  “And  you  have  never  believed  He 
did  forgive  you?”  asked  the  lady.  “No,”  said  the 
poor  man,  “how  could  I,  for  I  never  felt  as  if  He  did  ?  ” 
“But  suppose  He  had  said  He  forgave  you,  would 
not  that  have  done  as  well  as  for  you  to  feel  it  ?  ”  “  Oh 
yes,”  replied  the  man;  “if  God  said  it,  of  course  I 
would  believe  it.”  “Very  well,  He  does  say  so,”  was 
the  lady’s  answer;  and  she  turned  to  the  verse  we 
have  taken  above  (IJohn  i.  9)  and  read  it  aloud- 
“Now,”  she  continued,  “you  have  been  all  these 


136 


SECRET  OF  A  HAPPY  LIFE. 


three  years  confessing  and  confessing  your  sin,  and  all 
the  while  God’s  record  has  been  declaring  that  He 
was  faithful  and  just  to  forgive  it  and  to  cleanse  you, 
and  3^et  you  have  never  once  believed  it.  You  have 
been  ‘making  God  a  liar’  all  this  while  by  refusing  to 
believe  His  record.” 

The  poor  man  saw  the  whole  thing,  and  was  dumb 
with  amazement  and  consternation ;  and  when  the 
lady  proposed  that  they  should  kneel  down,  and  that 
he  should  confess  his  past  unbelief  and  sin,  and  should 
claim,  then  and  there,  a  present  forgiveness  and  a 
present  cleansing,  he  obeyed  like  one  in  a  maze.  But 
the  result  was  glorious.  The  light  broke  in,  his  dark¬ 
ness  vanished,  and  he  began  aloud  to  praise  God  for 
the  wonderful  deliverance.  In  a  few  minutes  his  soul 
was  enabled  to  traverse  back  by  faith  the  whole  long 
weary  journey  that  he  had  been  three  years  in  making, 
and  he  found  himself  once  more  resting  in  the  Lord, 
and  rejoicing  in  the  fulness  of  His  Salvation. 

The  other  illustration  was  the  case  of  a  Christian 
lady,  who  had  been  living  in  the  land  of  promise  a 
few  weeks,  and  who  had  had  a  very  bright  and  victo¬ 
rious  experience.  Suddenly  at  the  end  of  that  time, 
she  was  overcome  by  a  violent  burst  of  anger.  For 
a  moment  a  flood  of  discouragement  swept  over  her 
soul.  The  temptation  came,  “  There  now,  that  shows 
it  was  all  a  mistake.  Of  course  you  have  been  de¬ 
ceived  about  the  whole  thing,  and  have  never  entered 
into  the  life  of  faith  at  all.  And  now  you  may  as  well 
give  up  altogether,  for  you  never  can  consecrate  your¬ 
self  any  more  entirely  nor  trust  any  more  fully,  than 
you  did  this  time ;  so  it  is  very  plain  this  life  of  holi* 
ness  is  not  for  you !  ”  These  thoughts  flashed  through 


FAILURES. 


137 


her  mind  in  a  moment;  but  she  was  well  taught  in  the 
ways  of  God,  and  she  said  at  once,  “  Yes,  I  have  sin¬ 
ned,  and  it  is  very  sad.  But  the  Bible  says  that,  if  we 
confess  our  sins,  God  is  faithful  and  just  to  forgive  us 
our  sins,  and  to  cleanse  ns  from  all  unrighteousness; 
and  I  believe  He  will  do  it.”  She  did  not  delay  a  mo¬ 
ment,  but,  while  still  boiling  over  with  anger,  she  ran 
(for  she  could  not  walk)  into  a  room  where  she  could 
be  alone,  and  kneeling  down  beside  the  bed  she  said, 
“  Lord,  I  confess  my  sin.  I  have  sinned;  I  am  even  at 
this  very  moment  sinning.  I  hate  it,  but  I  cannot  get 
rid  of  it.  I  confess  it  with  shame  and  confusion  of  face 
to  thee.  And  now  I  believe  that,  according  to  thy 
word,  thou  dost  forgive  and  thou  dost  cleanse.”  She 
said  it  out  loud,forthe  inward  turmoil  was  too  great 
for  it  to  be  said  inside.  As  the  words  “  Thou  dost  for¬ 
give  and  thou  dost  cleanse”  passed  her  lips,  the  deliv¬ 
erance  came.  The  Lord  said,  “  Peace,  be  still !  ”  and 
there  was  a  great  calm.  A  flood  of  light  and  joy  burst 
on  her  soul,  the  enemy  fled,  and  she  was  more  than 
conquered  through  Him  that  loved  her.  The  whole 
thing,  the  sin  and  the  recovery  from  it,  had  occupied 
not  five  minutes,  and  her  feet  trod  more  firmly  than 
ever  in  the  blessed  highway  of  holiness.  Thus* the 
‘‘valley  of  Achor”  became  to  her  a  “door  of  hope,” 
and  she  sang  afresh  and  with  deeper  meaning  her  song 
of  deliverance,  “I  will  sing  unto  the  Lord,  for  He  hath 
triumphed  gloriously.” 

The  truth  is,  the  only  remedy,  after  all,  in  every 
emergency  is  to  trust  in  the  Lord.  And  if  this  is  all 
we  ought  to  do,  and  all  we  can  do,  is  it  not  better  to 
do  it  at  once?  I  have  often  been  brought  to  a  stand 
by  the  question,  “Well,  what  can  I  do  but  trust  ?” 


138 


SECRET  OF  A  HAPPY  LIFE. 


And  I  have  realized  at  once  the  folly  of  seeking  for 
deliverance  in  any  other  way,  by  saying  to  myself,  “  j 
shall  have  to  come  to  simple  trusting  in  the  end,  and 
wh}'-  not  come  to  it  at  once,  now  in  the  beginning,” 
It  is  a  life  and  walk  of  faith  we  have  entered  upon; 
and  if  we  fail  in  it,  our  only  recovery  must  lie  in  an  in¬ 
crease  of  faith,  not  in  a  lessening  of  it. 

Let  every  failure,  then,  if  any  occur,  drive  yon  in- 
stantty  to  the  Lord,  with  a  more  complete  abandon¬ 
ment  and  a  more  perfect  trust;  and  if  you  do  this, 
you  will  find  that,  sad  as  it  is,  your  failure  has  not 

taken  you  out  of  the  land  of  rest,  nor  broken  for  long 
your  sweet  communion  with  Him. 

Where  failure  is  thus  met,  a  recurrence  is  far  more 
likely  to  be  prevented  than  where  the  soul  allows  itself 
to  pass  through  a  season  of  despair  and  remorse.  If 
it  should  however  sometimes  recur,  and  is  always 
similarly  treated,  it  is  sure  to  become  less  and  less 
frequent,  until  finally  it  ceases  altogether.  There  are 
some  happy  souls  who  learn  the  whole  lesson  at  once; 
but  the  blessing  is  also  upon  those  who  take  slower 
steps  and  gain  a  more  gradual  victory. 

Having  shown  the  way  of  deliverance  from  failure, 
I  would  now  say  a  little  as  to  the  causes  of  failure  in 
this  life  of  full  salvation.  The  causes  do  not  lie  in  the 
strength  of  the  temptation,  nor  in  our  own  weakness, 
nor  above  all  in  any  lack  in  the  power  or  willingness 
of  our  Saviour  to  save  us.  The  promise  to  Israel  was 
positive:  “There  shall  not  any  man  be  able  tc 
stand  before  thee  all  the  days  of  thy  life.”  And 
the  promise  to  us  is  equally  positive:  “God  is  faith¬ 
ful,  who  will  not  suffer  you  to  be  tempted  above 
that  ye  are  able ;  but  will  with  the  temptation  also 


FAILURES. 


139 


make  a  way  to  escape,  that  ye  may  be  able  to  bear 
it.”  The  men  of  Ai  were  ‘‘but  few,”  and  yet  the  people 
who  had  conquered  the  mighty  Jericho  ‘‘fled  before 
the  men  of  Ai.”  It  was  not  the  strength  of  their 
enemy,  neither  had  God  failed  them.  The  cause  of 
their  defeat  lay  somewhere  else,  and  the  Lord  Himself 
declares  it:  ‘‘Israel  hath  sinned,  and  they  have  also 
transgressed  my  covenant  which  I  commanded  them : 
for  they  have  even  taken  of  the  accursed  thing,  and 
have  also  stolen,  and  dissembled  also,  and  they  have 
put  it  even  among  their  own  stuff.  Therefore  the 
children  of  Israel  could  not  stand  before  their  enemies, 
but  turned  their  backs  before  their  enemies.”  It  was 
a  hidden  evil  that  conquered  them.  Buried  under  the 
earth,  in  an  obscure  tent  in  that  vast  army,  was  hid¬ 
den  something  against  which  God  had  a  controversy ; 
and  this  little  hidden  thing  made  the  whole  army  help¬ 
less  before  their  enemies.  “  There  is  an  accursed  thing 
in  the  midst  of  thee,  0  Israel :  thou  canst  not  stand 
before  thine  enemies  until  ye  take  away  the  accursed 
thing  from  among  you.” 

The  lesson  here  is  simply  this,  that  anything  cher¬ 
ished  in  the  heart  which  is  contrary  to  the  will  of  God, 
let  it  seem  ever  so  insignificant,  or  be  ever  so  deeply 
hidden,  will  cause  us  to  fall  before  our  enemies.  An}*- 
conscious  root  of  bitterness  cherished  toward  another, 
any  self-seeking,  any  harsh  judgments,  any  slackness 
in  obeying  the  voice  of  the  Lord,  any  doubtful  habits 
or  surroundings,  —  these  things  or  any  one  of  them, 
consciously  indulged,  will  effectually  cripple  and  par¬ 
alyze  our  spiritual  life.  We  may  have  hidden  the  evil 
in  the  most  remote  corner  of  our  hearts,  and  may 
have  covered  it  over  from  our  sight,  refusing  even 


140 


SECRET  OF  A  HAPPY  LIFE. 


to  recognize  its  existence,  although  we  cannot  help 
being  all  the  time  secretly  aware  that  it  is  there. 
We  may  steadily  ignore  it,  and  persist  in  declarations 
of  consecration  and  full  trust;  we  may  be  more  ear¬ 
nest  than  ever  in  our  religious  duties,  and  have  the 
eyes  of  our  understanding  opened  more  and  more  to 
the  truth  and  the  beauty  of  the  life  and  walk  of  faith. 
We  may  seem  to  ourselves  and  to  others  to  have 
reached  an  almost  impregnable  position  of  victory^ 
and  yet  we  may  find  ourselves  suffering  bitter  defeats. 
We  may  wonder,  and  question,  and  despair,  and  pray. 
Nothing  will  do  any  good  until  the  wrong  thing  is 
dug  up  from  its  hiding-place,  brought  out  to  the  light, 
and  laid  before  God. 

The  moment,  therefore,  that  a  believer  who  is  walk¬ 
ing  in  this  interior  life  meets  with  a  defeat,  he  must 
at  once  seek  for  the  cause,  not  in  the  strength  of  that 
particular  enemy,  but  in  something  behind,  — some 
hidden  want  of  consecration  lydng  at  the  very  centre 
of  his  being.  Just  as  a  headache  is  not  the  disease 
itself,  but  only  a  symptom  of  a  disease,  situated  in 
some  other  part  of  the  body,  so  the  failure  in  such 
a  Christian  is  only  the  symptom  of  an  evil,  hidden  in 
probably  a  very  different  part  of  his  nature. 

Sometimes  the  evil  may  be  hidden  even  in  what 
at  a  cursory^  glance  would  look  like  good.  Beneath 
apparent  zeal  for  the  truth,  may  be  hidden  a  judging 
spirit,  or  a  subtle  leaning  to  our  own  understanding. 
Beneath  apparent  Christian  faithfulness,  may  be  hid¬ 
den  an  absence  of  Christian  love.  Beneath  an  appar¬ 
ently  rightful  care  for  our  affairs,  may  be  hidden  a 
great  want  of  trust  in  God.  I  believe  our  blessed 
Guide,  the  indwelling  Holy  Spirit,  is  always  secretly 


FAILURES. 


141 


discovering  these  things  to  us  by  continual  little 
checks  and  pangs  of  conscience,  so  that  we  are  left 
without  excuse.  But  it  is  very  easy  to  disregard  His 
gentle  voice,  and  insist  upon  it  to  ourselves  that  all  is 
right,  while  the  fatal  evil  continues  hidden  in  our 
midst,  causing  defeat  in  most  unexpected  quarters. 

A  capital  illustration  of  this  occured  to  me  once  in 
my  housekeeping.  We  had  moved  into  a  new  house, 
and  in  looking  over  it  to  see  if  it  was  all  ready  for 
occupancy,  I  noticed  in  the  cellar  a  very  clean-looking 
cider-cask  headed  up  at  both  ends.  1  debated  with 
myself  whether  I  should  have  it  taken  out  of  the  cel¬ 
lar  and  opened  to  see  what  was  in  it,  but  concluded, 
as  it  seemed  empty  and  looked  clean,  to  leave  it  un¬ 
disturbed,  especially  as  it  would  have  been  quite  a 
piece  of  work  to  get  it  up  the  stairs.  I  did  not  feel 
quite  easy,  but  reasoned  away  my  scruples  and  left  it. 
Every  spring  and  fall,  when  house-cleaning  time  came 
on,  I  would  remember  that  cask  with  a  little  twinge  of 
my  housewifely  conscience,  feeling  I  could  not  quite 
rest  in  the  thought  of  a  perfectly  clean  house  while 
it  remained  unopened,  as  how  did  I  know  but  unde.'* 
its  fair  exterior  it  contained  some  hidden  evil  ?  Still 
I  managed  to  quiet  my  scruples  on  the  subject,  think¬ 
ing  always  of  the  trouble  it  would  involve  to  investi¬ 
gate  it ;  and  for  two  or  three  years  the  innocent-looking 
cask  stood  quietly  in  our  cellar.  Then,  most  unaccount¬ 
ably,  moths  began  to  fill  our  house.  I  used  every 
possible  precaution  against  them,  and  made  every 
effort  to  eradicate  them,  but  in  vain.  They  increased 
rapidly,  and  threatened  to  ruin  everything  we  had.  I 
suspected  our  carpets  as  being  the  cause,  and  sub¬ 
jected  them  to  a  thorough  cleaning.  I  suspected  our 


142 


SECRET  OF  A  HAPPY  LIFE . 


furniture,  and  had  it  newly  upholstered.  I  suspected 
all  sorts  of  impossible  things.  At  last  the  thought  of 
the  cask  flashed  on  me.  At  once  I  had  it  brought  up 
out  of  the  cellar  and  the  head  knocked  in,  and  I  think 
it  safe  to  say  that  thousands  of  moths  poured  out.  The 
previous  occupant  of  the  house  must  have  headed  it 
up  with  something  in  it  which  bred  moths,  and  this 
was  the  cause  of  all  my  trouble. 

Now,  I  believe  that,  in  the  same  way,  some  innocent¬ 
looking  habit  or  indulgence,  some  apparently  unimpor¬ 
tant  and  safe  thing,  about  which,  however,  we  have 
now  and  then  little  twinges  of  conscience,  —  something 
which  is  not  brought  out  fairly  into  the  light,  and 
investigated  under  the  searching  eye  of  God,  —  lies  at 
the  root  of  most  of  the  failure  in  this  interior  life.  All 
is  not  given  up.  Some  secret  corner  is  kept  locked 
against  the  entrance  of  the  Lord.  Some  evil  thing  is 
hidden  in  the  recesses  of  our  hearts,  and  therefore  we 
cannot  stand  before  our  enemies,  but  find  ourselves 
smitten  down  in  their  presence. 

In  order  to  prevent  failure,  or  to  discover  its  cause, 
if  we  find  we  have  failed,  it  is  necessary  to  keep  con¬ 
tinually  before  us  this  prayer:  “Search  me,  O  God, 
and  know  my  heart ;  try  me  and  know  my  thoughts ; 
and  see  if  there  be  any  wicked  way  in  me,  and  lead 
me  in  the  way  everlasting.” 

Let  me  beg  of  you,  however,  dear  Christians,  do  not 
think,  because  I  have  said  all  this  about  failure,  that 
I  believe  in  it.  There  is  no  necessity  for  it  whatever. 
The  Lord  Jesus  is  able,  according  to  the  declaration 
concerning  Him,  to  deliver  us  out  of  the  hands  of  our 
enemies,  that  we  may  “serve  Him  without  fear,  in 
holiness  and  righteousness  before  Him  all  the  days 


FAILURES. 


143 


of  our  life.”  Let  us  then  pray,  every  one  of  us,  day 
and  night,  “Lord,  keep  us  from  sinning,  and  make  us 
living  witnesses  of  thy  mighty  power  to  save  to  the 
uttermost;”  and  let  us  never  be  satisfied  until  we 
are  so  pliable  in  his  hands,  and  have  learned  so  to 
trust  Him,  that  He  will  be  able  to  “make  us  perfect 
in  every  good  work  to  do  His  will,  working  in  us 
that  which  is  well  pleasing  in  His  sight,  through  Jesus 
Christ ;  to  whom  be  glory  for  ever  and  ever.  Amen !  ” 


144 


SECRET  OF  A  HAPPY  LIFE. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

IS  GOD  IN  EVERYTHING? 

ONE  of  the  greatest  obstacles  to  an  unwavering 
experience  in  the  interior  life  is  the  difficulty  of 
seeing  God  in  everything.  People  say,  “I  can  easily 
submit  to  things  that  come  from  God;  but  I  cannot 
submit  to  man,  and  most  of  my  trials  and  crosses  come 
through  human  instrumentality.”  Or  they  say,  ‘‘It 
is  all  well  enough  to  talk  of  trusting;  but  when  I 
commit  a  matter  to  God,  man  is  sure  to  come  in  and 
disarrange  it  all;  and  while  I  have  no  difficulty  in 
trusting  God,  I  do  see  serious  difficulties  in  the  way 
of  trusting  men.” 

This  is  no  imaginary  trouble,  but  is  of  vital  impor¬ 
tance;  and  if  it  cannot  be  met,  it  does  really  make  the 
life  of  faith  an  impossible  and  visionary  theory.  For 
nearly  everything  in  life  comes  to  us  through  human 
instrumentalities,  and  most  of  our  trials  are  the  re¬ 
sult  of  somebody’s  failure,  or  ignorance,  or  careless¬ 
ness,  or  sin.  We  know  God  cannot  be  the  author  of 
these  things;  and  yet,  unless  He  is  the  agent  in  the 
matter,  how  can  we  say  to  Him  about  it,  “  Thy  will 
be  done”? 

Besides,  what  good  is  there  in  trusting  our  affairs 
to  God,  if,  after  all,  man  is  to  be  allowed  to  come  in 
and  disarrange  them ;  and  how  is  it  possible  to  live 
by  faith,  if  human  agencies,  in  whom  it  would  be 


IS  GOD  IN  EVERYTHING? 


145 


wrong  and  foolish  to  trust,  are  to  have  a  prevailing 
influence  in  moulding  our  lives  ? 

Moreover,  things  in  which  we  can  see  God’s  hand, 
always  have  a  sweetness  in  them  that  consoles  while 
it  wounds ;  but  the  trials  inflicted  by  man  are  full  of 
nothing  but  bitterness. 

What  is  needed,  then,  is  to  see  God  in  everything, 
and  to  receive  everything  directly  from  His  hands, 
with  no  intervention  of  second  causes;  and  it  is  to 
just  this  that  we  must  be  brought,  before  we  can  know 
an  abiding  experience  of  entire  abandonment  and  per¬ 
fect  trust.  Our  abandonment  must  be  to  God,  not  to 
man ;  and  our  trust  must  be  in  Him,  not  in  any  arm 
of  flesh,  or  we  shall  fail  at  the  first  trial. 

The  question  here  confronts  us  at  once,  “But  is 
God  in  everything,  and  have  we  any  warrant  from  the 
Scripture  for  receiving  everything  from  His  hands, 
without  regarding  the  second  causes  that  may  have 
been  instrumental  in  bringing  them  about  ?  ”  1  answer 

to  this,  unhesitatingly,  Yes.  To  the  children  of  God, 
everything  comes  directly  from  their  Father’s  hand, 
no  matter  who  or  what  may  have  been  the  apparent 
agents.  There  are  no  “  second  causes  ”  for  them. 

The  whole  teaching  of  Scripture  asserts  and  im¬ 
plies  this.  Not  a  sparrow  falls  to  the  ground  with¬ 
out  our  Father.  The  very  hairs  of  our  head  are  all 
numbered.  We  are  not  to  be  careful  about  anything, 
because  our  Father  cares  for  us.  We  are  not  to 
avenge  ourselves,  because  our  Father  has  charged 
Himself  with  our  defence.  We  are  not  to  fear,  for 
the  Lord  is  on  our  side.  No  one  can  be  against  us, 
because  he  is  for  us.  We  shall  not  want,  for  He  is 
our  Shepherd.  When  we  pass  through  the  rivers 


146 


SECRET  OF  A  HAPPY  LIFE. 


they  shall  not  overflow  us,  and  when  we  walkthrough 
the  fire  we  shall  not  be  burned,  because  He  will  be 
with  us.  He  shuts  the  mouths  of  lions,  that  they 
cannot  hurt  us.  “ He  delivereth  and  rescueth.”  “He 
changeth  the  times  and  the  seasons;  He  removeth 
kings  and  setteth  up  kings.”  A  man’s  heart  is  in 
His  hand,  and,  “as  the  rivers  of  water,  He  turneth  it 
whithersoever  He  will.”  He  ruleth  over  all  the  king¬ 
doms  of  the  heathen ;  and  in  His  hand  there  is  power 
and  might,  “  so  that  none  is  able  to  withstand  ”  Him. 
“He  ruleth  the  raging  of  the  sea;  when  the  waves 
thereof  arise,  He  stilleth  them.”  He  “bringeth  the 
counsel  of  the  heathen  to  naught;  He  maketh  the 
devices  of  the  people  of  none  effect.”  “Whatsoever 
the  Lord  pleaseth,  that  doeth  He,  in  heaven  and  in 
earth,  in  the  seas  and  all  deep  places.”  “Lo,  these 
are  parts  of  His  ways:  but  how  little  a  portion  is 
heard  of  Him  ?  But  the  thunder  of  His  power  who 
can  understand?”  “Hast  thou  not  known?  hast 
thou  not  heard,  that  the  everlasting  God,  the  Lord, 
the  Creator  of  the  ends  of  the  earth,  fainteth  not, 
neither  is  weary?  There  is  no  searching  of  His 
understanding.” 

And  it  is  this  very  God  who  is  declared  to  be  “our 
refuge  and  strength,  a  very  present  help  in  trouble. 
Therefore  will  not  we  fear,  though  the  earth  be  re¬ 
moved,  and  though  the  mountains  be  carried  into  the 
midst  of  the  sea ;  though  the  waters  thereof  roar  and 
be  troubled,  though  the  mountains  shake  with  the 
swelling  thereof.”  “I  will  say  of  the  Lord,  He  is  my 
refuge  and  my  fortress :  my  God  ;  in  Him  will  I  trust. 
Surely  He  shall  deliver  thee  from  the  snare  of  the 
fowler,  and  from  the  noisome  pestilence.  He  shall 


IS  GOD  IN  EVERYTHING? 


147 


cover  thee  with  His  feathers,  and  under  His  wings 
shalt  thou  trust :  His  truth  shall  be  thy  shield  and 
buckler.  Thou  shalt  not  be  afraid  for  the  terror  by 
night ;  nor  for  the  arrow  that  flieth  by  day  ;  nor  for  the 
pestilence  that  walkefh  in  darkness;  nor  for  the  de¬ 
struction  thatwasteth  at  noonday.  A  thousand  shall 
fall  at  thy  side,  and  ten  thousand  at  thy  right  hand ; 

but  it  shall  not  come  nigh  thee . Because  thou 

hast  made  the  Lord,  which  is  my  refuge,  even  the 
most  High,  thy  habitation;  there  shall  no  evil  befall 
thee,  neither  shall  any  plague  come  nigh  thy  dwelling. 
For  He  shall  give  His  angels  charge  over  thee,  to  keep 
thee  in  all  thy  ways.”  ‘‘Be  content,  therefore,  with 
such  things  as  ye  have:  for  He  hath  said,  I  will  never 
leave  thee  nor  forsake  thee.  So  that  we  may  boldly 
say,  The  Lord  is  my  helper,  and  I  will  not  fear  what 
man  shall  do  unto  me.” 

To  my  own  mind,  these  scriptures,  and  many  others 
like  them,  settle  forever  the  question  as  to  the  power 
of ‘‘second  causes”  in  the  life  of  the  children  of  God. 
Second  causes  must  all  be  under  the  control  of  our 
Father,  and  not  one  of  them  can  touch  us  except 
with  His  knowledge  and  by  His  permission.  It  may 
be  the  sin  of  man  that  originates  the  action,  and 
therefore  the  thing  itself  cannot  be  said  to  be  the 
will  of  God ;  but  by  the  time  it  reaches  us  it  has 
become  God’s  will  for  us,  and  must  be  accepted  as 
directly  from  His  hands.  No  man  or  company  of 
men,  no  power  in  earth  or  heaven,  can  touch  that 
soul  which  is  abiding  in  Christ,  without  first  passing 
through  his  encircling  presence,  and  receiving  the 
seal  of  his  permission.  If  God  be  for  us,  it  matters 
not  who  may  be  against  us ;  nothing  can  disturb  or 


148 


SECRET  OF  A  HAPPY  LIFE. 


harm  us,  except  He  shall  see  that  it  is  best  for  us,  and 
shall  stand  aside  to  let  it  pass. 

An  earthly  parent’s  care  for  his  helpless  child  is  a 
feeble  illustration  cf  this.  If  the  child  is  in  its  father’s 
arms,  nothing  can  touch  it  without  that  father’s  con¬ 
sent,  unless  he  is  too  weak  to  prevent  it.  And  even  if 
this  should  be  the  case,  he  suffers  the  harm  first  in  his 
own  person  before  he  allows  it  to  reach  his  child.  If 
an  earthly  parent  would  thus  care  for  his  little  helpless 
one,  how  much  more  will  our  Heavenly  Father,  whose 
love  is  infinitely  greater,  and  whose  strength  and 
wisdom  can  never  be  baffled,  carefor  us!  I  am  afraid 
there  are  some,  even  of  God’s  own  children,  who 
scarcely  think  that  He  is  equal  to  themselves  in  ten¬ 
derness,  and  love,  and  thoughtful  care;  and  who,  in 
their  secret  thoughts,  charge  Him  with  a  neglect  and 
indifference  of  which  they  would  feel  themselves  inca¬ 
pable.  The  truth  really  is,  that  His  care  is  infinitely 
superior  to  any  possibilities  of  human  care;  and  that 
He,  who  counts  the  very  hairs  of  our  heads,  and  suf¬ 
fers  not  a  sparrow  to  fall  without  Him,  takes  note  of 
the  minutest  matters  that  can  affect  the  lives  of  His 
children,  and  regulates  them  all  according  to  His  own 
perfect  will,  let  their  origin  be  what  they  may. 

The  instances  of  this  are  numberless.  Take  Joseph. 
What  could  have  seemed  more  apparently  on  the  face 
of  it  to  be  the  result  of  sin,  and  utterly  contrary  to 
the  will  of  God,  than  the  action  of  his  brethren  in  sell¬ 
ing  him  into  slaver}’  ?  And  yet  Joseph,  in  speaking  of 
it,  said,  “As  for  you,  ye  thought  evil  against  me ;  but 
God  meant  it  unto  good.’’  “Now  therefore  be  not 
grieved,  nor  angry  with  yourselves,  that  ye  sold  me 
hither:  for  God  did  send  me  before  you  to  preserve 


IS  GOD  .IN  EVERYTHING ? 


149 


life.”  It  was  undoubtedly  sin  in  Joseph’s  brethren, 
but  by  the  time  it  had  reached  Joseph  it  had  become 
God’s  will  for  him,  and  was,  in  truth,  though  he  did 
not  see  it  then,  the  greatest  blessing  of  his  whole  life. 
And  thus  we  see  how  God  can  make  even  “the  wrath 
of  man  to  praise  Him,”  and  how  all  things,  even  the 
sins  of  others,  “  shall  work  together  for  good  to  them 
that  love  him.” 

I  learned  this  lesson  practically  and  experimentally, 
long  years  before  I  knew  the  scriptural  truth  com 
cerning  it.  I  was  attending  a  prayer-meeting  held  in 
the  interests  of  the  life  of  faith,  when  a  strange  lady 
rose  to  speak,  and  I  looked  at  her,  wondering  who  she 
could  be,  little  thinking  she  was  to  bring  a  message 
to  my  soul  which  would  teach  me  a  grand  practical  les¬ 
son.  She  said  she  had  great  difficulty  in  living  the  life 
of  faith,  on  account  of  the  second  causes  that  seemed 
to  her  to  control  nearly  everything  that  concerned  her. 
Her  perplexity  became  so  great  that  at  last  she  began 
to  ask  God  to  teach  her  the  truth  about  it,  whether 
He  really  was  in  everything  or  not.  After  praying 
this  for  a  few  days,  she  had  what  she  described  as 
a  vision.  She  thought  she  was  in  a  perfectly  dark 
place,  and  that  there  advanced  toward  her,  from  a  dis¬ 
tance,  a  body  of  light  which  gradually  surrounded 
and  enveloped  her  and  everything  around  her.  As  it 
approached,  a  voice  seemed  to  say,  “This  is  the  pres¬ 
ence  of  God!  This  is  the  presence  of  God!”  While 
surrounded  with  this  presence,  all  the  great  and  awful 
things  in  life  seemed  to  pass  before  her, —  fighting 
armies,  wicked  men,  raging  beasts,  storms  and  pesti¬ 
lences,  sin  and  suffering  of  every  kind.  She  shrunk 
back  at  first  in  terror ;  but  she  soon  saw  that  the  pres- 


150 


SECRET  OF  A  HAPPY  LIFE. 


ence  of  God  so  surrounded  and  enveloped  herself  and 
each  one  of  these  things,  that  not  a  lion  could  reach 
out  its  paw,  nor  a  bullet  fly  through  the  air,  except  as 
the  presence  of  God  moved  out  of  the  way  to  permit 
it.  And  she  saw  that  if  there  were  ever  so  thin  a  film, 
as  it  were,  of  this  glorious  Presence  between  herself 
and  the  most  terrible  violence,  not  a  hair  of  her  head 
could  be  ruffled,  nor  anything  touch  her,  except  as  the 
Presence  divided  to  let  the  evil  through.  Then  all  the 
small  and  annoying  things  of  life  passed  before  her; 
and  equally  she  saw  that  there  also  she  was  so  envel¬ 
oped  in  this  presence  of  God,  that  not  a  cross  look, 
nor  a  harsh  word,  nor  petty  trial  of  any  kind  could 
affect  her,  unless  God’s  encircling  presence  moved  out 
of  the  way  to  let  it. 

Her  difficulty  vanished.  Her  question  was  an¬ 
swered  forever.  God  was  in  everything;  and  to  her 
henceforth  there  were  no  second  causes.  She  saw 
that  her  life  came  to  her,  day  by  day  and  hour  by 
hour,  directly  from  the  hand  of  God,  let  the  agencies 
which  should  seem  to  control  it  be  what  they  might. 
And  never  again  had  she  found  any  difficulty  in  an 
abiding  consent  to  His  will,  and  an  unwavering  trust 
in  His  care. 

Would  that  it  were  only  possible  to  make  every 
Christian  see  this  truth  as  plainly  as  I  see  it!  For  I 
am  convinced  it  is  the  only  clew  to  a  completely  rest¬ 
ful  life.  Nothing  else  will  enable  a  soul  to  live  only  in 
the  present  moment,  as  we  are  commanded  to  do,  and 
to  take  no  thought  for  the  morrow.  Nothing  else  will 
take  all  the  risks  and  “supposes”  out  of  a  Christian’s 
life,  and  enable  him  to  say,  “Surely  goodness  and 
mercy  shall  follow  me  all  the  days  of  my  life.”  Under 


IS  GOD  IN  EVERYTHING? 


151 


God’s  care  we  run  no  risks.  I  once  heard  of  a  poor 
colored  woman  who  earned  a  precarious  living  by 
daily  labor,  but  who  was  a  joyous,  triumphant  Chris¬ 
tian.  “Ah,  Nancy,”  said  a  gloomy  Christian  lady  to 
her  one  day,  who  almost  disapproved  of  her  constant 
cheerfulness,  and  yet  envied  it, — “Ah,  Nancy,  it  is  all 
well  enough  to  be  happy  now,  but  I  should  think  the 
thoughts  of  your  future  would  sober  you.  Only  sup¬ 
pose,  for  instance,  that  you  should  have  a  spell  of  sick¬ 
ness,  and  be  unable  to  work ;  or  suppose  your  present 
employers  should  move  away,  and  no  one  else  should 
give  you  anything  to  do;  or  suppose — ”  “Stop!” 
cried  Nancy,  “I  never  supposes.  De  Lord  is  my  Shep¬ 
herd,  and  I  knows  I  shall  not  want.  And,  honey,”  she 
added  to  her  gloomy  friend,  “it’s  all  dem  supposes  as 
is  makin’  you  so  mis’able.  You’d  better  give  dem  all 
up,  and  just  trust  de  Lord.” 

Nothing  else  but  this  seeing  God  in  everything,  will 
make  us  loving  and  patient  with  those  who  annoy  and 
trouble  us.  They  will  be  to  us  then  only  the  instru¬ 
ments  for  accomplishing  His  tender  and  wise  pur¬ 
poses  toward  us,  and  we  shall  even  find  ourselves  at 
last  inwardly  thanking  them  for  the  blessings  they 
bring. 

Nothing  else  will  completely  put  an  end  to  all  mur¬ 
muring  or  rebelling  thoughts.  Christians  often  feel 
at  liberty  to  murmur  against  man,  when  they  would 
not  dare  to  murmur  against  God.  Therefore  this  way 
of  receiving  things  would  make  it  impossible  ever  to 
murmur.  If  our  Father  permits  a  trial  to  come,  it 
must  be  because  the  trial  is  the  sweetest  and  best 
thing  that  could  happen  to  us,  and  we  must  accept  it 
with  thanks  from  His  dear  hand.  This  does  not  mean, 


152 


SECRET  OF  A  HAPPY  LIFE. 


however,  that  wemust  like  or  enjoy  the  trial  itself,  but 
that  we  must  like  God’s  will  in  the  trial ;  and  it  is  not 
hard  to  do  this,  when  we  have  learned  to  know  that 
His  will  is  the  will  of  love,  and  is  therefore  always 
lovely. 

A  very  good  illustration  of  this  may  be  found  in  the 
familiar  fact  of  a  mother  giving  medicine  to  her  dearly 
loved  child.  The  bottle  holds  the  medicine,  but  the 
mother  gives  it;  and  the  bottle  is  not  responsible,  but 
the  mother.  No  matter  how  full  her  closet  may  be  of 
bottles  of  medicine,  the  mother  will  not  allow  one  drop 
to  be  given  to  the  child  unless  she  believes  it  will  be 
good  for  it ;  but  when  she  does  believe  it  will  be  good 
for  her  darling,  the  very  depth  of  her  love  compels  her 
to  force  it  on  the  child,  no  matter  how  bitter  may  be 
its  taste. 

The  human  beings  around  us  are  often  the  bottles 
that  hold  our  medicine,  but  it  is  our  Father’s  hand  of 
love  that  pours  out  the  medicine,  and  compels  us  to 
drink  it.  The  human  bottle  is  the  “second  cause” 
of  our  trial ;  but  it  has  no  real  agency  in  it,  for  the 
medicine,  that  these  human  “bottles”  hold,  is  pre¬ 
scribed  for  us  and  given  to  us  by  the  Great  Physician 
of  our  souls,  who  is  seeking  thereby  to  heal  all  our 
spiritual  diseases. 

For  instance,  I  know  no  better  medicine  to  cure  the 
disease  of  irritability  than  to  be  compelled  to  live  with 
a  human  “bottle”  of  sensitiveness,  whom  we  are 
bound  to  consider  and  yield  to. 

Shall  we  rebel  against  the  human  bottles  then? 
Shall  we  not  rather  take  thankfully  from  our  Father’s 
hand  the  medicine  they  contain,  and,  losing  sight  of 
the  second  cause,  say  joyfully,  “Thy  will  be  done,” 


IS  GOD  IN  EVERYTHING?  153 


in  everything  that  comes  to  us,  no  matter  what  its 
source  may  be  ? 

This  way  of  seeing  our  Father  in  everything 
makes  life  one  long  thanksgiving,  and  gives  a  rest  of 
heart,  and,  more  than  that,  agayety  of  spirit  that  is 
unspeakable. 

Faber  says,  in  his  wonderful  hymn  on  the  Will  of 
God,— - 

“I  know  not  what  it  is  to  doubt, 

My  heart  is  always  gay; 

I  run  no  risks,  for,  come  what  will, 

Thou  always  hast  thy  way.’* 

Since,  therefore,  God  is  sure  to  have  His  own  way 
concerning  those  who  abandon  themselves  to  Him  in 
perfect  trust,  into  what  wonderful  green  pastures  of 
inward  rest,  and  beside  what  blessedly  still  waters  of 
inward  refreshment,  will  He  lead  all  such ! 

If  the  will  of  God  is  our  will,  and  if  He  always  has 
His  way,  then  we  always  have  our  way  also,  and  we 
reign  in  a  perpetual  kingdom.  He  who  sides  with 
God  cannot  fail  to  win  in  every  encounter ;  and  wheth¬ 
er  the  result  shall  be  joy  or  sorrow,  failure  or  success, 
death  or  life,  we  may  under  all  circumstances  join  in 
the  Apostle’s  shout  of  victory,  “Thanks  be  unto  God, 
which  always  causeth  us  to  triumph  in  Christ  I” 

THE  WILL  OF  GOD.* 

Thou  sweet,  beloved  Will  of  God, 

My  anchor  ground,  my  fortress  hill. 

My  spirit’s  silent,  fair  abode, 

In  thee  I  hide  me,  and  am  still. 

O  Will,  that  wiliest  good  alone, 

Lead  thou  the  way,  thou  guidest  best; 

A  little  child  I  follow  on, 

And  trusting  lean  upon  thy  breast. 


*  From. “Hymns  of  Consecration.” 


154 


SECRET  OF  A  HAPPY  LIFE. 


Thy  beautiful,  sweet  Will,  my  God, 
Holds  fast  in  its  sublime  embrace 

My  captive  will,  a  gladsome  bird. 

Prisoned  in  such  a  realm  of  grace. 

Within  this  place  of  certain  good, 

Love  ever  more  expands  her  wings; 

Or,  nestling  in  thy  perfect  choice, 

Abides  content  with  what  it  brings. 

Oh,  sweetest  burden,  lightest  yoke, 

It  lifts,  it  bears  my  happy  soul. 

It  giveth  wings  to  this  poor  heart ; 

My  freedom  is  thy  grand  control. 

Upon  God’s  Will  I  lay  me  down, 

As  child  upon  its  mother’s  breast; 

No  silken  couch,  nor  softest  bed, 

Could  ever  give  me  such  sweet  rest. 

Thy  wonderful,  grand  Will,  my  God, 
With  triumph  now,  I  make  it  mine, 

And  Love  shall  cry  a  jealous  Yes, 

To  every  dear  command  of  thine. 


Part  III. 
Results. 


CHAPTER  xm. 


BONDAGE  OR  LIBERTY. 

IT  is  a  fact  beyond  question  that  there  are  two  kinds 
of  Christian  experience,  one  of  which  is  an  ex¬ 
perience  of  bondage,  and  the  other  an  experience  of 
liberty. 

In  the  first  case  the  soul  is  controlled  by  a  stern 
sense  of  duty,  and  obeys  the  law  of  God,  either  from 
fear  of  punishment  or  from  expectation  of  wages.  In 
the  other  case  the  controlling  power  is  an  inward  life- 
principle,  that  works  out,  by  the  force  of  its  own  mo¬ 
tions  or  instincts,  the  will  of  the  Divine  Life-giver, 
without  fear  of  punishment  or  hope  of  reward.  In  the 
first  the  Christian  is  a  servant,  and  works  for  hire ;  in 
the  second  he  is  a  son,  and  works  for  love. 

There  ought  not,  it  is  true,  to  be  this  contrast  in  the 
experience  of  Christians,  for  to  “walk  at  liberty”  is 
plainly  their  only  right  and  normal  condition  ;  but  as 
we  have  to  deal  with  what  is,  rather  than  with  what 
ought  to  be,  we  cannot  shut  our  eyes  to  the  sad  con¬ 
dition  of  bondage  in  which  so  many  of  God’s  children 
pass  a  large  part  of  their  Christian  lives.  The  reason 
of  this,  and  the  remedy  for  it  are  not  difficult  to  find. 
The  reason  is  legality,  and  the  remedy  is  Christ. 

Nowhere  do  we  find  those  two  forms  or  stages  of 
Christian  life  more  fully  developed  and  contrasted  than 


158 


SECRET  OF  A  HAPPY  LIFE. 


in  the  Epistle  to  the  Galatians.  The  occasion  of  its 
being  written  was,  that  some  Jewish  brethren  had 
come  among  the  churches  in  Galatia,  and,  by  repre¬ 
senting  that  certain  forms  and  ceremonies  were  neces¬ 
sary  to  their  salvation,  had  tried  to  draw  them  away 
from  the  liberty  of  the  gospel.  And  with  these  teach¬ 
ers  Peter  had  allowed  himself  to  unite.  Therefore 
Paul  reproves,  not  only  the  Galatians,  but  also  Peter 
himself. 

Neither  Peter  nor  the  Galatians  had  committed  any 
moral  sin ;  but  they  had  committed  a  spiritual  sin. 
They  had  got  into  a  wrong  attitude  of  soul  toward 
God, —  a  legal  attitude.  They  had  begun,  as  Chris¬ 
tians  generally  do,  in  the  right  attitude;  that  is,  they 
had  entered  by  the  “hearing  of  faith,”  into  the  spirit¬ 
ual  life.  But  when  it  came  to  a  question  of  how  they 
were  to  live  in  this  life,  they  had  changed  their  ground. 
They  had  sought  to  substitute  works  for  faith.  Hav¬ 
ing  “begun  in  the  Spirit,”  they  were  now  seeking  to 
be  “made  perfect  by  the  flesh.”  They  had,  in  short, 
descended,  in  their  Christian  living,  from  the  plane  of 
life  to  the  plane  of  law. 

An  illustration  will  help  us  to  understand  this. 
Here  are  two  men  who  neither  of  them  steal.  Out¬ 
wardly  their  actions  are  equally  honest ;  but  inwardly 
there  is  a  vital  difference.  One  man  has  a  dishonest 
nature  that  wants  to  steal,  and  is  only  deterred 
by  the  fear  of  a  penalty ;  while  the  other  possesses  an 
honest  nature  that  hates  thieving,  and  could  not  be 
induced  to  steal,  even  by  the  hope  of  a  reward.  The 
one  is  honest  in  the  spirit;  the  other  is  honest  only  in 
the  flesh.  No  words  are  needed  to  say  of  which  sort 
the  Christian  life  is  meant  to  be. 


BONDAGE  OR  LIBERTY. 


159 


We  are,  however,  continually  tempted  to  forget  that 
it  is  not  what  men  do,  that  is  the  vital  matter,  but 
rather  what  they  are.  In  Christ  Jesus  neither  legal 
observances  avail  anything,  nor  the  omission  of  legal 
observances,  “but  a  new  creature.”  God  is  a  great 
deal  more  concerned  about  our  really  being  “new 
creatures”  than  about  anything  else;  because  He 
knows  that  if  we  are  right  as  to  our  inward  being,  we 
shall  certainly  do  right  as  to  our  outward  actions.  We 
may,  in  fact,  sometimes  even  do  right,  without  being 
right  at  all;  and  it  is  very  evident  that  no  doing  of 
this  kind  has  any  vitality  in  it,  nor  is  of  any  real 
account.  The  essential  thing,  therefore,  is  character ; 
and  doing  is  valuable  only  as  it  is  an  indication  of 
being. 

Paul  was  grieved  with  the  Galatian  Christians  be¬ 
cause  they  seemed  to  have  lost  sight  of  this  vital 
truth,  that  the  inward  life,  the  “new  creature,”  was 
the  only  thing  that  availed.  They  had  begun  on  this 
plane,  but  they  had  “fallen  from  grace”  to  a  lower 
plane,  where  the  “oldness  of  the  letter”  was  put  in 
place  of  the  “newness  of  the  spirit.”  “Christ  is  be¬ 
come  of  no  effect  unto  you,  whosoever  of  you  are 
justified  by  the  law ;  ye  are  fallen  from  grace.” 

This  passage  is  the  only  one  in  which  the  expression 
“fallen  from  grace”  is  used  in  the  New  Testament; 
and  it  means  that  the  Galatians  had  made  the  mistake 
of  thinking  that  something  else  beside  Christ  was 
necessary  for  their  right  Christian  living.  The  Jewish 
brethren  who  had  come  among  them  had  taught  them 
that  Christ  alone  was  not  enough,  but  that  obedience 
to  the  ceremonial  law  must  be  added. 

They  had  therefore  imported,  as  being  necessary  for 


160 


SECRET  OF  A  HAPPY  LIFE. 


salvation,  some  ceremonies  out  of  the  Jewish  ritual, 
and  had  tried  to  compel  the  “  Gentiles  to  live  as  do  the 
Jews.”  Modern  Christians  are  greatly  surprised  at 
them,  and  wonder  how  they  could  have  been  so 
legal.  But  is  there  not  the  same  temptation  to  legality, 
under  a  different  form,  among  these  same  modern 
Christians  ?  They  added  the  ceremonial  law ;  we  add 
resolutions,  or  agonizings,  or  Christian  work,  or 
churchgoing,  or  religious  ceremonies  of  one  sort  or 
another;  and  what  is  there,  therefore,  to  choose  be¬ 
tween  us  and  them  ?  It  does  not  make  much  difference 
what  you  add ;  the  wrong  thing  is  to  add  anything  at 
all. 

We  are  full  of  condemnation  of  the  “Jew’s  religion,” 
because  it  “frustrates  the  grace  of  God,”  and  makes 
Christ  to  be  “dead  in  vain,”  by  depending  upon  out¬ 
ward  deeds  and  outward  ceremonies  to  bring  salva¬ 
tion.  But  I  fear  there  is  a  great  deal  of  the  “Jew’s 
religion”  mixed  up  with  the  Christian  religion  now, 
just  as  there  was  among  these  Galatian  Christians, 
and  that  the  grace  of  God  is  as  much  frustrated  by  our 
legality  as  by  theirs;  although  ours  may  manifest 
itself  in  a  slightly  different  form. 

The  following  contrasts  may  help  some  to  under¬ 
stand  the  difference  between  these  two  kinds  of  reli¬ 
gion,  and  may  also  enable  them  to  discover  where  the 
secret  of  their  own  experience' of  legal  bondage  lies: 

The  law  says,  this  do  and  The  gospel  says,  Live,  and 
thou  shalt  live.  then  thou  shalt  do. 

The  law  says,  Pay  me  that  The  gospel  says,  I  frankly 
thou  owest.  forgive  thee  all. 

The  law  says,  Make  you  a  The  gospel  says,  A  new  heart 
new  heart  and  a  new  spirit.  will  I  give  you,  and  a  new  spirit 

„  will  I  put  within  you. 


BONDAGE  OR  LIBERTY. 


161 


The  law  says,  Thou  shalt 
love  the  Lord  thy  God  with  all 
thy  heart,  and  with  all  thy  soul, 
and  with  all  thy  mind. 

The  law  says,  Cursed  is  every 
one  who  continueth  not  in  all 
things  written  in  the  book  of 
the  law  to  do  them. 

The  law  says,  The  wages  of 
sin  is  death. 

The  law  demands  holiness. 

The  law  says,  Do. 

The  law  extorts  the  unwilling 
service  of  a  bondman. 

The  law  makes  blessings  the 
result  of  obedience. 

The  law  places  the  day  of  rest 
at  the  end  of  the  week’s  work. 

The  law  says,  If. 

The  law  was  given  for  the  re¬ 
straint  of  the  old  man. 

Under  the  law,  salvation  was 
wages. 


The  gospel  says,  Herein  is 
love,  not  that  we  loved  God, 
but  that  He  loved  us  and  sent 
His  son  to  be  the  propitiation 
for  our  sins. 

The  gospel  says,  Blessed  is 
the  man  whose  iniquities  are 
forgiven,  and  whose  sins  are 
covered. 

The  gospel  says,  The  gift  of 
God  is  eternal  life  through  Jesus 
Christ  our  Lord. 

The  gospel  gives  holiness. 

The  gospel  says,  Done. 

The  gospel  wins  the  loving 
service  of  a  son  and  freeman. 

The  gospel  makes  obedience 
the  result  of  blessings. 

The  gospel  places  it  at  its 
beginning. 

The  gospel  says,  Therefore. 

The  gospel  was  given  to  bring 
liberty  to  the  new  man. 

Under  the  gospel,  salvation  is 
a  gift. 


These  two  forms  of  the  religious  life  begin  at 
exactly  opposite  ends.  The  religion  of  legality  is  as 
though  a  man  should  decide  to  have  an  apple  orchard, 
and  should  try  to  make  one,  by  first  getting  some 
apples  of  the  kind  desired,  and  then  getting  a  tree 
and  fastening  the  apples  on  its  branches,  and  then  get¬ 
ting  roots  to  fasten  to  the  trunk,  and  finally  pur¬ 
chasing  a  field  in  which  to  plant  his  manufactured 
tree.  That  is,  first  the  fruit,  second  the  branches,  third 
the  root,  fourth  the  field.  But  the  religion  of  grace 
follows  a  different  order.  It  begins  at  the  root,  and 
grows  up,  and  blossoms  out  into  flowers  and  fruit. 

Paul  tells  us  that  the  law  ‘‘is  our  schoolmaster,” 
not  our  saviour ;  and  he  emphasizes  the  fact  that  it  is 


162 


SECRET  OF  A  HAPPY  LIFE. 


our  schoolmaster  only  for  the  purpose  of  bringing  us 
to  Christ,  for,  after  faith  in  Christ  is  come,  he  declares, 
we  are  no  longer  to  be  under  a  schoolmaster.  He 
uses  the  contrast  between  a  servant  and  a  son  as  an 
illustration  of  his  meaning.  “Wherefore,”  he  says. 
“  thou  art  no  more  a  servant,  but  a  son  ;  ”  and  he  en¬ 
treats  us,  because  of  this,  to  “  stand  fast  in  the  liberty 
wherewith  Christ  hath  made  us  free,  and  be  not  en¬ 
tangled  again  with  the  yoke  of  bondage.” 

It  is  as  if  a  woman  had  been  a  servant  in  a  house, 
paid  for  her  work  in  weekly  wages,  and  under  the  law 
of  her  master,  whom  she  had  tried  to  please,  but  to¬ 
wards  whom  her  service  had  been  one  of  duty  only. 
Finally,  however,  the  master  offers  her  his  love,  and 
lifts  her  up  from  the  place  of  a  servant  to  be  his  bride, 
and  to  share  his  fortunes.  At  once  the  whole  spirit  of 
her  service  is  changed.  She  may  perhaps  continue  to 
do  the  same  things  that  she  did  before,  but  she  does 
them  now  altogether  from  a  different  motive.  The 
old  sense  of  duty  is  lost  in  the  new  sense  of  love. 
The  cold  word  “master”  is  transformed  into  the  lov¬ 
ing  word  “husband.”  “And  it  shall  be  at  that  day, 
saith  the  Lord,  that  thou  shalt  call  me  Ishi  [my  hus¬ 
band],  and  shalt  call  me  no  more  Baali  [my  lord]  .” 

But  imagine  this  bride  beginning  after  a  while  to 
look  back  upon  her  low  estate,  and  to  be  so  over¬ 
whelmed  by  the  retrospect,  as  to  feel  unworthy  of 
union  with  her  husband,  and  to  lose  consequently  the 
inward  sense  of  this  union.  Who  can  doubt  that  very 
soon  the  old  sense  of  working  for  wages  would  drive 
out  the  new  sense  of  working  for  love,  and  in  spirit 
the  old  name  of  “my  master”  would  again  take  the 
piace  of  the  new  name  of  “  my  husband  ”  ? 


BONDAGE  OR  LIBERTY . 


1G3 


We  exclaim  at  the  folly  of  such  a  course.  But  is  not 
this  just  what  happens  to  many  Christians  now  ?  The 
servitude  of  duty  takes  the  place  of  the  service  of  love  ; 
and  God  is  looked  upon  as  the  stern  task-master  who 
demands  our  obedience,  instead  of  the  loving  Father 
who  wins  it. 

We  all  know  that  nothing  so  destroys  the  sweetness 
of  any  relation  as  the  creeping  in  of  this  legal  spirit. 
The  moment  a  husband  and  wife  cease  to  perform 
their  services  to  each  other  out  of  a  heart  of  love  and 
union,  and  begin  to  perform  them  from  a  sense  of  duty 
alone,  that  moment  the  sweetness  of  the  union  is  lost, 
and  the  marriage  tie  becomes  a  bondage,  and  things 
that  were  a  joy  before  are  turned  into  crosses.  This 
lies  at  the  bottom,  I  think,  of  the  current  idea  of  “tak¬ 
ing  up  the  cross  ”  in  the  Christian  Church.  We  think 
it  means  doing  something  we  ought  to  do,  but  dislike 
to  do.  And  such  service  is  thought  to  be  very  meri¬ 
torious  toward  God ;  although  we  all  know  very  well 
that  we  would  not  endure  it  a  moment  as  toward 
ourselves.  What  wife  could  endure  it,  if  her  husband 
should  use  toward  her  the  language  that  Christians 
are  continually  using  toward  the  Lord ;  if  he  should 
say,  for  instance,  every  morning,  as  he  went  out  to 
business,  “I  am  going  to  work  for  you  to-day,  but  I 
wish  you  to  know  that  it  is  a  very  great  cross,  and  I 
hardly  know  how  to  bear  it.”  Or  what  husband  would 
like  such  language  from  his  wife?  No  wonder  Paul 
was  alarmed  when  he  found  there  was  danger  of  a  legal 
spirit  such  as  this  creeping  into  the  Church  of  Christ. 

Legal  Christians  do  not  deny  Christ;  they  only  seek 
to  add  something  to  Christ.  Their  idea  is,  Christ  and 
—  something  besides,  Perhaps  it  is  Christ  and  good 


164 


SECRET  OF  A  HAPPY  LIFE. 


works,  or  Christ  and  earnest  feelings,  or  Christ  and 
clear  doctrines,  or  Christ  and  certain  religious  per¬ 
formances.  All  these  are  good  in  themselves,  and 
good  as  the  results  or  fruits  of  salvation  ;  but  to  add 
anything  to  Christ,  no  matter  how  good  it  may  be,  as 
the  procuring  cause  of  salvation,  is  to  deny  His  com¬ 
pleteness,  and  to  exalt  self.  Men  will  undergo  many 
painful  self-sacrifices  rather  than  take  the  place  of  ut¬ 
ter  helplessness  and  worthlessness.  A  man  will  gladly 
be  a  Saint  Simeon  Stylites  or  even  a  fakir,  if  only 
it  is  self  that  does  it,  so  that  self  may  share  the  glo^. 
And  a  religion  of  bondage  always  exalts  self.  It  is 
what  1  do, —  my  efforts,  my  wrestlings,  my  faithful¬ 
ness.  But  a  religion  of  liberty  leaves  self  nothing  to 
glory  in;  it  is  all  Christ,  and  what  He  does,  and  what 
He  is,  and  how  wonderfully  He  saves.  The  child  does 
not  boast  of  itself,  but  of  its  father  and  mother;  and 
our  souls  can  ‘'make  their  boast  in  the  Lord,”  when, 
in  this  life  of  liberty,  we  have  learned  to  know  that  He 
and  He  alone  is  the  sufficient  supptyfor  our  every  need. 

We  are  the  children  of  God,  and  therefore  of  course 
His  heirs;  and  our  possessions  come  to  us,  not  by 
working  for  them,  but  by  inheritance  from  ourFather. 
Ah,  dear  friends,  how  little  some  of  you  act  like  the 
“heirs  of  God  ”  !  How  poverty-stricken  you  are,  and 
how  hard  you  work  for  the  little  3^011  do  possess! 

You  may  perhaps  point  to  the  results  of  y our  legal 
working  or  your  asceticism,  which  it  is  true  do  .seem  to 
have  a  “  show  of  wisdom  in  will  worship,  and  humility, 
and  neglecting  of  the  body,”  as  being  a  proof  of  the 
rightness  of  your  course.  But  I  am  convinced  that 
whatever  really  good  results  there  are,  have  come  in 
spite  of,  and  not  because  of,  your  legal  working. 


BONDAGE  OR  LIBERTY. 


165 


I  had  a  friend  once  whose  Christian  life  was  a  life 
of  bondage.  She  worked  for  her  salvation  harder 
than  any  slave  ever  worked  to  purchase  his  freedom. 
Among  other  things  she  never  felt  as  if  the  day  could 
go  right  for  herself  or  any  of  her  family,  unless  she 
started  it  with  a  long  season  of  wrestling,  and  agoniz¬ 
ing,  and  conflict;  “winding  up  her  machine,’’  I  called 
it.  One  day  we  were  talking  about  it  together,  and 
she  was  telling  me  of  the  hardness  and  bondage  of 
her  Christian  life,  and  was  wondering  what  the  Bible 
could  mean  when  it  said  Christ’s  yoke  was  easy  and 
His  burden  light.  I  told  her  that  I  thought  she 
must  have  got  things  wrong  somehow,  that  the  Bible 
always  expressed  the  truth  of  our  relationships  with 
God  by  using  figures  that  did  not  admit  of  any  such 
wrestlings  and  agonizings  as  she  described.  “What 
would  you  think,’’  I  asked,  “of  children  that  had  to 
wrestle  and  agonize  with  their  parents  every  morning 
for  their  necessary  food  and  clothing,  or  of  sheep  that 
had  to  wrestle  with  their  shepherd,  before  they  could 
secure  the  necessarv  care?”  “Of  course  I  see  that 
would  be  all  wrong,”  she  said;  “but  then  why  do  I 
have  such  good  times  after  I  have  gone  through  these 
conflicts  ?  ”  This  puzzled  me  for  a  moment,  but  then  I 
asked,  “  What  brings  about  those  good  times  finally  ?  ” 
“Why,  finally,”  she  replied,  “I  come  to  the  point  of 
trusting  the  Lord.”  “Suppose  you  should  come  to 
that  point  to  begin  with?”  I  asked.  “Oh,”  she 
replied,  with  a  sudden  illumination,  “  I  never  until  this 
minute  thought  that  I  might !  ” 

Christ  sa}rs  that  except  we  “become  as  little  chil¬ 
dren”  we  cannot  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  Heaven. 
But  it  is  impossible  to  get  the  child-spirit  until  the 


166 


SECRET  OF  A  HAPPY  LIFE. 


servant-spirit  has  disappeared.  Notice,  I  do  not  say 
the  spirit  of  service,  but  the  servant-spirit.  Every 
good  child  is  filled  with  the  spirit  of  service, but  ought 
not  to  have  anything  of  the  servant-spirit.  The  child 
serves  from  love;  the  servant  works  for  wages. 

If  a  child  of  loving  parents  should  get  the  idea  that 
its  parents  would  not  give  it  food  and  clothing  un¬ 
less  it  earned  them  in  some  way,  all  the  sweetness 
of  the  relationship  between  parent  and  child  would 
be  destroyed.  I  knew  a  little  girl  who  did  get  this 
idea,  and  who  went  around  the  neighborhood  asking 
at  the  doors  for  work,  that  she  might  earn  a  little 
money  to  buy  herself  some  clothes.  It  nearly  broke, 
the  hearts  of  her  parents  when  they  discovered  it. 
Legal  Christians  grieve  the  heart  of  their  Heavenly 
Father,  far  more  than  they  dream,  by  letting  the  ser¬ 
vant-spirit  creep  in,  in  their  relations  with  Him.  As 
soon  as  we  begin  to  “  work  for  our  living”  in  spiritual 
things,  we  have  stepped  out  of  the  son’s  place  into 
the  servant’s,  and  have  ‘‘fallen  from  grace.” 

One  servant,  of  whom  we  read  in  the  Bible,  thought 
his  lord  was  a  “hard  master ;  ”  and  the  spirit  of  bond¬ 
age  makes  us  think  the  same  now.  How  many  Chris¬ 
tians  there  are  who  have  bowed  their  necks  to  the 
yoke  of  Christ,  as  to  a  “yoke  of  bondage,”  and  have 
read  His  declaration  th  at  His  yoke  iseasy,  as  though  it 
were  a  fairy  tale,  and  gone  on  their  way,  never  dream¬ 
ing  that  it  was  meant  to  be  actually  realized  as  a  fact ! 
In  truth,  so  deeply  is  the  idea  that  the  Christian  life  is 
a  species  of  bondage  ingrained  in  the  church,  that, 
whenever  any  of  the  children  of  God  find  themselves 
“  walking  at  liberty  ’’they  at  once  begin  to  think  there 
must  be  something  wrong  in  their  experience,  because 


BONDAGE  OR  LIBERTY. 


167 


they  no  longer  find  anything  to  be  a  “cross”  to  them. 
As  well  might  the  wife  think  there  must  be  some¬ 
thing  wrong  in  her  love  for  her  husband,  when  she 
finds  all  her  services  for  him  are  a  pleasure  instead 
of  a  trial ! 

Sometimes  I  think  that  the  whoie  secret  of  the 
Christian  life  that  I  have  been  trying  to  describe, 
is  revealed  in  the  child  relationship.  Nothing  more 
is  needed  than  just  to  believe  that  God  is  as  good  a 
Father  as  the  best  ideal  earthly  father,  and  that  the 
relationship  of  a  Christian  to  Him  is  just  the  same  as 
that  of  a  child  to  its  parent  in  this  world.  Children 
do  not  need  to  carry  about  in  their  own  pockets  the 
money  for  their  support.  If  the  father  has  plenty, 
that  satisfies  them,  and  is  a  great  deal  better  than  if 
it  were  in  the  child’s  own  possession,  since  in  that 
case  it  might  get  lost.  In  the  same  way  it  is  not 
necessary  for  Christians  to  have  all  their  spiritual 
possessions  in  their  own  keeping.  It  is  far  better 
that  their  riches  should  be  stored  up  for  them  in 
Christ,  and  that  when  they  want  anything  they  should 
receive  it  direct  from  His  fiands.  He  of  God  is 
‘made  unto  us  wisdom,  and  righteousness,  and  san- 
t.ification,  and  redemption;”  and  apart  from  Him,  we 
have  nothing. 

When  people  are  comparative  strangers  to  one 
another,  they  cannot  with  any  comfort  receive  great 
gifts  from  each  other.  But  when  they  are  united 
in  spirit,  with  a  bond  of  true  love  between  them, 
then,  no  matter  how  great  the  gifts  may  be  that 
pass  from  one  to  the  other,  they  can  be  accepted 
without  any  feeling  of  embarrassment  or  obligation 
on  either  side. 


168 


SECRET  OF  A  HAPPY  LIFE. 


This  principle  holds  good  in  the  spiritual  life. 
When  Christians  are  living  far  off  from  God,  they  can¬ 
not  be  brought  to  accept  any  great  gifts  from  Him. 
They  feel  as  if  they  were  too  unworthy,  and  did  not 
deserve  such  gifts;  and,  Teen,  when  He  puts  the  bless¬ 
ing  into  their  very  laps,  as  it  were,  their  false  humility 
prevents  them  from  seeing  it,  and  they  go  on  their  way 
without  it. 

But  when  Christians  get  near  enough  to  the  Lord  to 
feel  the  true  spirit  of  adoption,  they  are  ready  to  ac¬ 
cept  with  delight  all  the  blessings  He  has  in  store  fot 
them,  and  never  think  anything  too  much  to  receive. 
For  then  they  discover  that  He  is  only  eager,  as  pa¬ 
rents  are,  to  pour  out  every  good  gift  upon  His  children, 
and  that,  in  fact,  all  things  are  theirs,  because  they  are 
Christ’s,  and  Christ  is  God’s. 

Sometimes  a  great  mystery  is  made  out  of  the  life 
hid  with  Christ  in  God,  as  though  it  were  a  strange 
mystical  thing,  that  ordinary  people  could  not  under¬ 
stand.  But  this  contrast  between  bondage  and  lib¬ 
erty  makes  it  very  plain.  It  is  only  to  find  out  that 
we  really  are  “no  more  servants,  but  sons,”  and  prac¬ 
tically  to  enter  into  the  blessed  privileges  of  this  rela¬ 
tionship.  All  can  understand  what  is  to  be  a  little 
child ;  there  is  no  mystery  about  that.  God  did  not 
use  the  figure  of  Father  and  children  without  knowing 
all  that  this  relationship  implies ;  and  those,  therefore, 
who  know  Him  as  their  Father,  know  the  whole  secret. 
They  are  their  Father’s  heirs,  and  may  enter  now  into 
possession  of  all  that  is  necessary  for  their  present 
needs.  They  will  therefore  be  very  simple  in  their 
prayers.  “  Lord,”  they  will  say,  “  I  am  thy  child,  and 
I  need  such  and  such  things.”  “My  child,”  He  an- 


BONDAGE  OR  LIBERTY. 


169 


swers,  ‘‘all  things  are  thine  in  Christ;  come  and  take 
just  what  thou  needest.” 

Where  the  executors  are  honorable  men,  the  heirs 
to  an  estate  are  not  obliged  to  “wrestle”  for  their 
inheritance.  The  executors  are  appointed,  not  to  keep 
them  out  of  it,  but  to  help  them  into  possession  of  it. 
I  sometimes  think  Christians  look  upon  our  Lord  as 
some  one  appointed  to  keep  them  out  of  their  posses¬ 
sions,  instead  of  the  one  who  has  come  to  bring  them 
in.  They  little  know  how  such  an  implication  grieves 
and  dishonors  Him. 

It  is  because  legal  Christians  do  not  know  the 
truth  of  their  relationship  to  God,  as  children  to  a 
father,  and  do  not  recognize  His  fatherly  heart  toward 
them,  that  they  are  in  bondage.  When  they  do  rec¬ 
ognize  it,  the  spirit  of  bondage  becomes  impossible  to 
them. 

Our  liberty  must  come,  therefore,  from  an  under¬ 
standing  of  the  mind  and  thoughts  of  God  towards  us. 

What  are  the  facts  of  the  case  ?  If  He  has  called  us 
only  to  the  servants  place,  then  the  Christians,  whose 
lives  are  lives  of  weary  bondage,  are  right.  But  if  He 
has  called  us  to  be  children  and  heirs,  if  we  are  His 
friends,  His  brethren,  His  bride,  how  sadly  and  griev¬ 
ously  wrong  we  are  in  being  entangled  under  any  yoke 
of  bondage  whatever,  no  matter  how  pious  a  yoke  it 
may  seem  to  be ! 

The  thought  of  bondage  is  utterly  abhorrent  to  any 
of  earth’s  true  relationships,  and  surely  it  must  be 
more  repugnant  to  heavenly  relationship.  It  will  not, 
df  course,  hinder  the  final  entrance  of  the  poor  en¬ 
slaved  soul  into  its  heavenly  rest,  but  it  will,  I  am 
sure,  put  it  into  the  sad  condition  of  those  who  are 


170 


SECRET  OF  A  HAPPY  LIFE. 


described  in  i  Cor.  iii.  11-15.  Their  work  shall  be 
burned,  and  they  shall  suffer  loss;  yet  they  them¬ 
selves  shall  be  saved,  but  so  as  by  fire. 

“Against  such  there  is  no  law,”  is  the  Divine  sen¬ 
tence  concerning  all  who  live  and  walk  in  the  Spirit; 
and  you  shall  find  it  most  blessedly  true  in  your  own 
experience,  if  you  will  but  lay  aside  all  self-effort  and 
self-dependence  of  every  kind,  and  will  consent  to  let 
Christ  live  in  you,  and  work  in  you,  and  be  your  in¬ 
dwelling  life. 

The  man  who  lives  bythe  powerof  an  inward  right¬ 
eous  nature,  is  not  under  bondage  to  the  outward  law 
of  righteousness;  but  he  who  is  restrained  by  the 
outward  law  alone,  without  the  inward  restraint  of  a 
righteous  nature,  is  a  slave  to  the  law.  The  one  fulfills 
the  law  in  his  soul,  and  is  therefore  free.  The  other 
rebels  against  the  law  in  his  soul,  and  is  therefore 
bound. 

I  would  that  every  child  of  God  did  but  know  the 
deliverance  from  bondage  which  I  have  tried  to  set 
forth ! 

Let  me  entreat  of  you,  my  readers,  to  abandon  your¬ 
selves  so  utterly  to  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  that  He  may 
be  able  to  “work  in  you  all  the  good  pleasure  of  His 
will,”  and  may,  by  the  law  of  the  Spirit  of  Life  in 
Himself,  deliver  you  from  every  othfcr  law  that  could 
possibly  enslave  you. 


GROWTH 


171 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

GROWTH. 

ONE  great  objection  made  against  those  who  advo¬ 
cate  this  life  of  faith  is,  that  they  do  not  teach 
a  growth  in  grace.  They  are  supposed  to  teach  that 
the  soul  arrives  in  one  moment  at  a  state  of  perfec¬ 
tion,  beyond  which  there  is  no  advance,  and  that  all 
the  exhortations  in  the  Scriptures  that  point  towards 
growth  and  development  are  rendered  void  by  this 
teaching. 

Since  exactly  the  opposite  of  this  is  true,  I  will  try, 
if  possible,  to  answer  these  objections,  and  to  show 
what  seems  to  me  the  Scriptural  way  of  growing,  and 
in  what  place  the  soul  must  be,  in  order  to  grow. 

The  text  which  is  most  frequently  quoted,  is  2  Peter 
iii.  18:  “But  grow  in  grace,  and  in  the  knowledge 
of  our  Lord  and  Saviour  Jesus  Christ.”  Now,  this 
text  expresses  exactly  what  we  who  teach  this  life 
of  faith,  believe  to  be  God’s  will  for  us,  and  what 
we  also  believe  he  has  made  it  possible  for  us  to 
experience.  We  accept,  in  their  very  fullest  meaning, 
all  the  commands  and  promises  concerning  our  being 
no  more  children,  and  our  growing  up  into  Christ  in 
all  things,  until  we  come  unto  a  perfect  man,  unto  the 
“measure  of  the  stature  of  the  fulness  of  Christ.”  We 
rejoice  that  we  need  not  continue  always  to  be  babes, 
needing  milk;  but  that  we  may,  by  reason  of  use  and 


172 


SECRET  OF  A  HAPPY  LIFE. 


development,  become  such  as  have  need  of  strong 
meat,  skilful  in  the  word  of  righteousness,  and  able  to 
discern  both  good  and  evil.  And  none  would  grieve 
more  than  we  ourselves,  at  the  thought  of  any  finality 
in  the  Christian  life,  beyond  which  there  could  be  no 
advance. 

But  then  we  believe  in  a  growing  that  does  really 
produce  continually  progressingfnaturity,  and  in  a  de¬ 
velopment  that,  as  a  fact,  does  bring  forth  ripe  fruit. 
We  expect  to  reach  the  aim  set  before  us ;  and  if  we 
do  not  find  ourselves  on  the  way  towards  it,  we  feel 
sure  there  must  be  some  fault  in  our  growing.  No 
parent  would  be  satisfied  with  the  growth  of  his  child 
if  day  after  day,  and  year  after  year,  it  remained  the 
same  helpless  babe  it  was  in  the  first  months  of  its 
life.  And  no  farmer  would  feel  comfortable  under 
such  growing  of  his  grain  as  should  stop  short  at  the 
blade,  and  never  produce  the  ear,  or  the  full  corn  in 
the  ear.  Growth,  to  be  real,  must  be  progressive,  and 
the  days  and  weeks  and  months  should  bring  a  de¬ 
velopment  and  increase  of  maturity  in  the  thing  grow 
ing.  But  is  this  the  case  with  a  large  part  of  that 
which  is  called  growth  in  grace  ?  Does  not  the  very 
Christian  who  is  the  most  strenuous  in  his  longings 
and  his  efforts  after  this  growth,  too  often  find  that,  at 
the  end  of  the  year,  he  is  not  as  far  on  in  his  Christian 
experience  as  at  the  beginning,  and  that  his  zeal,  and 
his  devotedness,  and  his  separation  from  the  world, 
are  not  as  whole-souled  or  complete  as  when  his 
Christian  life  first  began  ? 

I  was  once  urging  upon  a  company  of  Christians  the 
duty  and  privilege  of  an  immediate  and  definite  step 
into  the  “land  of  promise,”  when  a  lady  of  great  in- 


GROWTH. 


173 


telligence  interrupted  me,  with  what  she  evidently  felt 
to  be  a  complete  rebuttal  of  all  I  had  been  saying,  by 
exclaiming,  “Ah!  but,  Mrs.  Smith,  I  believe  ingrow¬ 
ing  in  grace.  ’  ’  “How  long  have  you  been  growing?’  ’ 
I  asked.  “About  twenty-five  years,”  was  her 
answer.  •  “And  how  much  more  unworldly  and 
devoted  to  the  Lord  are  you  now,  than  when  your 
Christian  life  began?”  I  continued.  “Alas!”  was  the 
answer,  “I  fear  I  am  not  nearly  so  much  so;”  and 
with  this  answer,  her  eyes  were  opened  to  see  that  at 
all  events  her  way  of  growing  had  not  been  success¬ 
ful,  but  quite  the  reverse. 

The  trouble  with  her,  and  with  every  other  such 
case,  is  simply  this :  they  are  trying  to  grow  into  grace, 
instead  of  in  it.  They  are  like  a  rosebush,  planted  by 
a  gardner  in  the  hard,  stony  path,  with  a  view  to  its 
growing  into  the  flower-bed,  and  which  has  of  course 
dwindled  and  withered  in  consequence,  instead  of 
flourishing  and  maturing  The  children  of  Israel, 
wandering  in  the  wilderness,  are  a  perfect  picture  of 
this  sort  of  growing.  They  were  travelling  about  for 
forty  years,  taking  many  weary  steps,  and  finding  but 
little  rest  from  their  wanderings ;  and  yet,  at  the  end 
of  it  all,  were  no  nearer  the  promised  land  than  they 
were  at  the  beginning.  When  they  started  on  their 
wanderings  at  Kadesh  Barnea,  they  were  at  the  bor¬ 
ders  of  the  land,  and  a  few  steps  would  have  taken 
them  into  it.  When  they  ended  their  wanderings  in 
the  plains  of  Moab,  the}^  were  also  at  its  borders; 
only  with  this  difference,  that  now  there  was  a  river  to 
cross,  which  at  first  there  would  not  have  been.  All 
their  wanderings  and  fightings  in  the  wilderness  had 
not  put  them  in  possession  of  one  inch  of  the  promised 


174 


SECRET  OF  A  HAPPY  LIFE. 


land.  In  order  to  get  possession  of  this  land,  it  was 
necessary  first  to  be  in  it ;  and  in  order  to  grow  in 
grace,  it  is  necessary  first  to  be  planted  in  grace. 
When  once  in  the  land,  however,  their  conquest  was 
rapid ;  and  when  once  planted  in  grace,  the  growth  of 
the  spiritual  life  becomes  vigorous  and  rapid  beyond 
all  conceiving.  For  grace  is  a  most  fruitful  soil,  and 
the  plants  that  grow  therein  are  plants  of  a  marvelous 
growth.  They  are  tended  by  a  Divine  Husbandman, 
and  are  warmed  by  the  Sun  of  Righteousness,  and 
watered  by  the  dew  from  Heaven.  Surely  it  is  no 
wonder  that  they  bring  forth  fruit,  “some  an  hundred¬ 
fold,  some  sixty-fold,  some  thirty-fold.” 

But,  it  will  be  asked,  what  is  meant  by  growing  in 
grace  ?  It  is  difficult  to  answer  this  question,  because 
so  few  people  have  any  conception  of  what  the  grace 
of  God  really  is.  To  say  that  it  is  free  unmerited 
favor,  only  expresses  a  little  of  its  meaning.  It  is  the 
unhindered,  wondrous,  boundless  love  of  God,  poured 
out  upon  us  in  an  infinite  variety  of  ways,  without 
stint  or  measure,  not  according  to  our  deserving,  but 
according  to  His  measureless  heart  of  love,  which 
passeth  knowledge,  so  unfathomable  are  its  heights 
and  depths.  I  sometimes  think  a  totally  different 
meaning  is  given  to  the  word  “love”  when  it  is  asso¬ 
ciated  with  God,  from  that  which  we  so  well  under¬ 
stand  in  its  human  application,  le  seem  to  consider 
that  Divine  love  is  hard  and  self-seeking  and  distant, 
concerned  about  its  own  glory,  and  indifferent  to  the 
fate  of  others.  But  if  ever  human  love  was  tender  and 
self-sacrificing  and  devoted,  if  ever  it  could  bear  and 
for-bear,  if  ever  it  could  suffer  gladly  for  its  loved  one, 
if  ever  it  was  willing  to  pour  itself  out  in  a  lavish 


GROWTH . 


175 


abandonment  for  the  comfort  or  pleasure  of  its  objects 
then  infinitely  more  is  Divine  love  tender  and  self-sac¬ 
rificing  and  devoted,  and  glad  to  bear  and  forbear, 
and  suffer,  and  eager  to  lavish  its  best  of  gifts  and 
blessings  upon  the  objects  of  its  love.  Put  together  all 
the  tenderestlove  you  know  of,  dear  reader,  the  deepest 
you  have  ever  felt,  and  the  strongest  that  has  ever 
been  poured  out  upon  you,  and  heap  upon  it  all  the 
love  of  all  the  loving  human  hearts  in  the  world,  and 
then  multiply  it  by  infinity,  and  you  will  begin  perhaps 
to  have  some  faint  glimpses  of  the  love  and  grace  of 
God! 

In  order  to  “grow  in  grace,”  therefore,  the  soul 
must  be  planted  in  the  very  heart  of  this  Divine  love, 
enveloped  by  it,  steeped  in  it.  It  must  let  itself  out  to 
the  joy  of  it,  and  must  refuse  to  know  anything  else. 
It  must  grow  in  the  apprehension  of  it,  day  by  day,  it 
must  intrust  everything  to  its  care,  and  must  have  no 
shadow  of  doubt  but  that  it  will  surely  order  all 
things  well. 

To  grow  in  grace  is  opposed  to  all  growth  in  self- 
dependence  or  self-effort, —  to  all  legality,  in  fact,  of 
every  kind.  It  is  to  put  our  growing,  as  well  as 
everything  else,  into  the  hands  of  the  Lord,  and  leave 
it  with  him.  It  is  to  be  so  satisfied  with  our  Hus¬ 
bandman,  and  with  His  skill  and  wisdom,  that  not  a 
question  will  cross  our  minds  as  to  His  mode  of  treat¬ 
ment  or  His  plan  of  cultivation.  It  is  to  grow  as  the 
lilies  grow,  or  as  the  babies  grow,  without  care  and 
without  anxiety  ;  to  grow  by  the  power  of  an  inward 
life-principle,  that  cannot  help  but  grow;  to  grow 
because  we  live,  and  therefore  must  grow;  to  grow 
because  He  who  has  planted  us,  has  planted  a  grow- 


176 


SECRET  OF  A  HAPPY  LIFE . 


ing  thing,  and  has  made  us  on  purpose  to  grow. 

Surely  this  is  what  our  Lord  meant  when  He  said, 
“Consider  the  lilies,  how  they  grow;  they  toil  not, 
neither  do  they  spin  :  and  yeti  say  unto  you,  that  even 
Solomon,  in  all  his  glory,  was  not  arrayed  like  one  of 
these.”  Or,  when  He  says  again,  “Which  of  you  by 
taking  thought  can  add  one  cubit  unto  his  stature?  ’’ 
There  is  no  effort  in  the  growing  of  a  babe  or  of  a  lily. 
The  lily  does  not  toil  nor  spin,  it  does  not  stretch 
nor  strain,  it  does  not  make  any  effort  of  any  kind  to 
grow,  it  is  not  conscious  even  that  it  is  growing; 
but  by  an  inward  life-principle,  and  through  the  nur¬ 
turing  care  of  God’s  providence,  and  the  fostering  of 
care-taker  or  gardener,  by  the  heat  of  the  sun, 
and  the  falling  of  the  rain,  it  grows  and  buds  and 
blossoms  into  the  beautiful  plant  God  meant  it 
to  be. 

The  result  of  this  sort  of  growing  in  the  Christian 
life  is  sure.  Even  Solomon  in  all  His  glory,  our  Lord 
says,  was  not  arrayed  like  one  of  God’s  lilies.  Solo¬ 
mon’s  array  cost  much  toiling  and  spinning,  and  gold 
and  silver  in  abundance;  but  the  lily’s  array  costs 
none  of  these.  And  though  we  may  toil  and  spin  to 
make  for  ourselves  beautiful  spiritual  garments,  and 
may  strain  and  stretch  in  our  efforts  after  spiritual 
growth,  we  shall  accomplish  nothing;  for  no  man  by 
taking  thought  can  add  one  cubit  to  his  stature,  and 
no  array  of  ours  can  ever  equal  the  beautiful  dress 
with  which  the  great  Husbandman  clothes  the  plants 
that  grow  in  His  garden  of  grace  and  under  His  fos¬ 
tering  care. 

Could  I  but  make  each  one  of  my  readers  realize 
how  utterly  helpless  we  are  in  this  matter  of  growing, 


GROWTH. 


177 


1  am  convinced  a  large  part  of  the  strain  would  be 
taken  out  of  many  lives  at  once. 

Imagine  a  child  possessed  of  the  monomania  that 
he  would  not  grow  unless  he  made  some  personal 
effort  after  it,  and  who  should  insist  upon  a  combina¬ 
tion  of  ropes  and  pulleys  whereby  to  stretch  himself 
up  to  the  desired  height.  He  might,  it  is  true,  spend 
his  days  and  years  in  a  weary  strain,  but  after  all 
there  would  be  no  change  in  the  inexorable  fiat,  “No 
man  by  taking  thought  can  add  one  cubit  unto  his 
stature;  ’’and  his  weary  efforts  would  be  only  wasted, 
if  they  did  not  actually  hinder  the  longed-for  end. 

Imagine  a  lily  trying  to  clothe  itself  in  beautiful 
colors  and  graceful  lines,  and  drawing  to  its  aid,  as 
so  many  of  God’s  children  try  to  do,  the  wisdom  and 
strength  of  all  the  lilies  around  it!  I  think  such  a  lily 
would  very  soon  become  a  chronic  “case”  of  spiritual 
perplexities  and  difficulties,  similar  to  some  that  are 
familiar  to  every  Christian  worker. 

Neither  child  nor  lily  is  ever  found  doing  such  a 
vain  and  foolish  thing  as  trying  to  grow.  But  I  fear 
many  of  God’s  children  are  doing  exactly  tnis  foolish 
thing.  They  know  that  they  ought  to  grow,  and  they 
feel  within  them  an  instinct  that  longs  for  growth ; 
but,  instead  of  letting  the  Divine  Husbandman  care 
for  their  growing,  as  it  is  surely  His  business  to  do, 
they  think  to  accomplish  it  by  their  own  toiling  and 
spinning,  and  stretching  and  straining;  and  in  conse¬ 
quence  they  pass  their  lives  in  a  round  of  wearisome 
self-efforts  that  exhausts  their  energies,  while  all  the 
time  they  find  themselves,  to  their  infinite  grief,  grow¬ 
ing  backward  rather  than  forward. 


178 


SECRET  OF  A  HAPPY  LIFE. 


“  ‘Ye  fiowrets  of  the  field,’  Siddartha  said, 

‘  Who  turn  your  tender  faces  to  the  sun, 

What  secret  know  ye,  that  ye  grow  content  ?  *  ” 

What  we  all  need  is  to  “consider  the  flowers  of  the 
field,”  and  learn  their  secret.  Grow,  by  all  means, 
dear  Christians;  but  grow,  I  beseech  you,  in  God’s 
way,  which  is  the  only  effectual  way.  See  to  it  that 
you  are  planted  in  grace,  and  then  let  the  Divine  Hus¬ 
bandman  cultivate  you  in  His  own  way  and  by  His 
own  means.  Put  yourselves  out  in  the  sunshine  of 
His  presence,  and  let  the  dew  of  Heaven  come  down 
upon  you,  and  see  what  will  be  the  result.  Leaves 
and  flowers  and  fruit  must  surely  come  in  their  season; 
for  your  Husbandman  is  skilful,  and  He  never  fails  in 
His  harvesting.  Only  see  to  it  that  you  oppose  no 
hindrance  to  the  shining  of  the  Sun  of  Righteousness, 
or  the  falling  of  the  dew  from  Heaven.  The  thinnest 
covering  may  serve  to  keep  off  the  sunshine  and  the 
dew,  and  the  plant  may  wither,  even  where  these  are 
most  abundant.  And  so  also  the  slightest  barrier  be¬ 
tween  your  soul  and  Christ  may  cause  you  to  dwindle 
and  fade,  as  a  plant  in  a  cellar  or  under  a  bushel.  Keep 
the  sky  clear.  Open  wide  every  avenue  of  your  being 
to  receive  the  blessed  influences  your  Divine  Husband¬ 
man  may  bring  to  bear  upon  you.  Bask  in  the  sun¬ 
shine  of  His  love.  Drink  of  the  waters  of  His  good¬ 
ness.  Keep  your  face  upturned  to  Him,  as  the  flowers 
do  to  the  sun.  Look,  and  your  soul  shall  live  and 
grow. 

But  it  may  be  objected  here  that  we  are  not  inani¬ 
mate  flowers,  but  intelligent  human  beings,  with  per¬ 
sonal  powers  and  personal  responsibilities.  This  is 
true;  and  it  makes  this  important  difference,  that  what 


GROWTH. 


179 


the  flower  is  by-  nature,  we  must  be  by  an  intelligent 
and  free  surrender.  To  be  one  of  God’s  lilies  means 
an  interior  abandonment  of  the  rarest  kind.  It  means 
that  we  are  to  be  infinitely  passive,  and  yet  infinitely 
active  also;  passive  as  regards  self  and  its  workings, 
active  as  regards  attention  and  response  to  God.  It 
is  very  hard  to  explain  this  so  as  to  be  understood. 
But  it  means  that  we  must  laydown  all  the  activity  of 
the  creature,  as  such,  and  must  let  only  the  activities 
of  God  work  in  us,  and  through  us,  and  by  us.  Self 
must  step  aside,  to  let  God  work. 

You  need  make  no  efforts  to  grow,  therefore;  but 
let  your  efforts  instead  be  all  concentrated  on  this, 
that  you  abide  in  the  Vine.  The  Divine  Husbandman 
who  has  the  care  of  the  Vine,  will  care  also  for  you  who 
are  His  branches,  and  will  so  prune  and  purge  and 
water  and  tend  you,  that  you  will  grow  and  bring 
forth  fruit,  and  your  fruit  shall  remain,  and,  like  the 
lily,  you  shall  find  yourself  arrayed  in  apparel  so  glor¬ 
ious,  that  that  of  Solomon  will  be  as  nothing  to  it. 

What  if  you  seem  to  yourselves  to  be  planted  at 
this  moment  in  a  desert  soil,  where  nothing  can  grow! 
Put  yourselves  absolutely  into  the  hands  of  the  good 
Husbandman,  and  He  will  at  once  begin  to  make  that 
very  desert  blossom  as  the  rose,  and  will  cause  springs 
and  fountains  of  water  to  start  up  out  of  its  sandy 
wastes.'  For  the  promise  is  sure,  that  the  man  that 
trusts  in  the  Lord  “shall  be  as  a  tree  planted  by  the 
waters,  and  that  spreadeth  out  her  roots  by  the  river, 
and  shall  not  see  when  heat  cometh,  but  her  leaf  shall 
be  green;  and  shall  not  be  careful  in  the  year  of 
drought,  neither  shall  cease  from  yielding  fruit.” 

It  is  the  great  prerogative  of  our  Divine  Husband- 


180 


SECRET  OF  A  HAPPY  LIFE. 


man  that  He  is  able  to  turn  any  soil,  whatever  it  may 
be  like,  into  the  soil  of  grace,  the  moment  we  put  our 
growing  into  His  hands.  He  does  not  need  to  trans¬ 
plant  us  into  a  different  field,  but  right  where  we  are, 
with  just  the  circumstances  that  surround  us,  -He 
makes  His  sun  to  shine  and  His  dew  to  fall  upon  us, 
and  transforms  the  very  things  that  were  before  our 
greatest  hindrances  into  the  chiefest  and  most  blessed 
means  of  our  growth.  I  care  not  what  the  circum¬ 
stances  may  be,  His  wonder-working  power  can  ac¬ 
complish  this;  and  we  must  trust  Him  with  it  all. 
Surely  He  is  a  Husbandman  we  can  trust;  and  if  He 
sends  storms,  or  winds,  or  rains,  or  sunshine,  all  must 
be  accepted  at  His  hands,  with  the  most  unwavering 
confidence  that  He  who  has  undertaken  to  cultivate 
us,  and  to  bring  us  to  maturity,  knows  the  very  best 
way  of  accomplishing  His  end,  and  regulates  the  ele¬ 
ments,  which  are  all  at  His  disposal,  expressly  with  a 
view  to  our  most  rapid  growth. 

Let  me  entreat  ofyou,  then,  to  giveup  all  your  efforts 
after  growing,  and  simply  to  let  yourselves  grow. 
Leave  it  all  to  the  Husbandman  whose  care  it  is,  and 
who  alone  is  able  to  manage  it.  No  difficulties  in  your 
case  can  baffle  Him.  If  you  will  only  put  yourselves 
absolutely  into  His  hands,  and  let  Him  have  His  own 
way  with  you,  no  dwarfing  of  your  growth  in  the 
years  that  are  past,  no  apparent  dryness  of  your  in¬ 
ward  springs  of  life,  no  crookedness  or  deformity  in 
your  development,  can  in  the  least  mar  the  perfect 
work  that  He  will  accomplish.  His  own  gracious 
promise  to  His  backsliding  children  assures  you  of 
this.  “I  will  heal  their  backsliding,”  He  says,  “I 
will  love  them  freely :  for  mine  anger  is  turned 


GROWTH. 


181 


away  from  him.  I  will  be  as  the  dew  unto  Israel: 
he  shall  grow  as  the  lily,  and  cast  forth  his  roots  as 
Lebanon.  His  branches  shall  spread,  and  his  beauty 
shall  be  as  the  olive-tree,  and  his  smell  as  Lebanon. 
They  that  dwell  under  His  shadow  shall  return;  they 
shall  revive  as  the  corn,  and  grow  as  the  vine :  the 
scent  thereof  shall  be  as  the  wine  of  Lebanon.”  And 
again  He  says:  “Be  not  afraid:  for  the  pastures  of 
the  wilderness  do  spring,  for  the  tree  beareth  her  fruit 
the  fig-tree  and  the  vine  do  yield  their  strength.  .  . 

And  the  floors  shall  be  full  of  wheat,  and  the  vats 
shall  overflow  with  wine  and  oil.  And  I  will  restore 
to  you  the  years  that  the  locust  hath  eaten.  .  .  . 
And  ye  shall  eat  in  plenty,  and  be  satisfied,  and  praise 
the  name  of  the  Lord  your  God,  that  hath  dealt  won- 
drouslv  with  you:  and  my  people  shall  never  be 
ashamed.” 

Oh  that  you  could  but  know  just  what  your  Lord 
meant  when  He  said,  “  Consider  the  lilies  of  the  field, 
how  they  grow ;  the}'  toil  not,  neither  do  they  spin!  ” 
Surely  these  words  give  us  the  picture  of  a  life  and 
growth  far  different  from  the  ordinary  life  and  growth 
of  Christians,  —  a  life  of  rest,  and  a  growth  without 
effort;  and  yet  a  life  and  a  growth  crowned  with  glo¬ 
rious  results.  And  to  every  soul  that  will  thus  be¬ 
come  a  lily  in  the  garden  of  the  Lord,  and  will  grow 
as  the  lilies  grow,  the  same  glorious  array  will  be 
as  surely  given  as  was  given  to  them;  and  they  will 
know  the  fulfilment  of  that  wonderful  mystical  pas¬ 
sage  concerning  their  Beloved,  that  “He  feedeth 
among  the  lilies.” 


182 


SECRET  OF  A  HAPPY  LIFE. 


“I  feel  as  weak  as  a  violet 
Alone  with  the  awful  sky : 

Winds  wander,  and  dews  drop  earthward. 

Rains  fall,  suns  rise  and  set, 

Earth  whirls ;  and  all  but  to  prosper 
A  poor  little  violet !  ” 

We  may  rest  assured  of  this,  that  all  the  resources 
of  God’s  infinite  grace  will  be  brought  to  bear  on  the 
growing  of  the  tiniest  flower  in  His  spiritual  garden, 
as  certainly  as  they  are  in  His  earthly  creation ;  and 
as  the  violet  abides  peacefully  in  its  little  place,  con¬ 
tent  to  receive  its  daily  portion  without  concerning 
itself  about  the  wandering  of  the  winds,  or  the  falling 
of  the  rain,  so  must  we  repose  in  the  present  moment 
as  it  comes  to  us  from  God,  contented  with  our  daily 
portion,  and  without  anxious  thought  as  to  any¬ 
thing  that  may  be  whirling  around  us  in  God’s  glo¬ 
rious  universe,  sure  that  all  things  will  be  made  to 
“prosper’’  for  us. 

This  is  the  kind  of  “growth  in  grace”  in  which  we 
who  have  entered  into  the  life  of  full  trust,  believe; 
a  growth  without  care  or  anxiety  on  our  part,  but  a 
growth  which  does  actually  grow,  which  blossoms  out 
into  flower  and  fruit,  and  becomes  like  a  “tree planted 
by  the  rivers  of  water,  that  bringeth  forth  his  fruit  in 
his  season;”  whose  leaf  also  does  not  wither,  and 
who  prospers  in  whatsoever  he  doeth.  And  we  rejoice 
to  know  that  there  are  growing  up  now  in  the  Lord’s 
heritage  many  such  plants,  who,  as  the  lilies  behold 
the  face  of  the  sun  and  grow  thereby,  are,  by  “  be¬ 
holding  as  in  a  glass  the  glory  of  the  Lord,”  being 
changed  into  the  same  image  from  glory  to  glory, 
even  as  by  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord. 

Should  you  ask  such  how  it  is  that  they  grow  so 


GROWTH. 


183 


rapiJly  and  with  such  success,  their  answer  would  be 
that  they  are  not  concerned  about  their  growing,  and 
are  hardly  conscious  that  they  do  grow.  That  their 
Lord  has  told  them  to  abide  in  Him,  and  has  promised 
that,  if  they  do  thus  abide,  they  shall  certainly  bring 
forth  much  fruit;  and  that  they  are  concerned,  there¬ 
fore,  only  about  the  abiding,  which  is  their  part,  and 
are  content  to  leave  the  cultivating,  and  the  growing, 
and  the  training,  and  the  pruning,  to  their  good  Hus¬ 
bandman,  who  alone  is  able  to  manage  these  things, 
or  to  bring  them  about.  You  will  find  that  such  souls 
are  not  engaged  in  watching  self,  but  in  “looking 
unto  Jesus. *’  They  do  not  “toil  and  spin’'  for  their 
spiritual  garments,  but  leave  themselves  in  the  hands 
of  the  Lord,  to  be  arrayed  as  it  may  please  Him.  Self¬ 
effort  and  self-dependence  are  at  an  end  with  them. 
Formerly  they  tried  to  be  not  only  the  garden  but  the 
gardener  also  as  well,  and  undertook  to  fulfill  the  duties 
of  both.  Now  they  are  content  to  be  what  they  are, — 
the  garden  only,  and  not  the  gardener;  and  they  are 
willing  to  leave  the  gardener’s  duties  to  the  Divine 
Husbandman,  who  alone  is  responsible  for  their  right¬ 
ful  performance.  Their  interest  in  self  is  gone,  trans¬ 
ferred  over  into  the  hands  of  another;  and  self  in 
consequence  has  become  nothing  to  them  more  and 
more,  and  Christ  alone  is  seen  to  be  all  in  all.  And 
the  blessed  result  is,  that  not  even  Solomon,  in  all  his 
glory,  was  arrayed  as  these  shall  be. 

Let  us  look  at  the  subject  practically.  We  all  know 
that  growing  is  not  a  thing  of  effort,  but  is  the  result 
of  an  inward  life-principle  of  growth.  All  the  stretch¬ 
ing  and  pulling  in  the  world  could  not  make  a  dead 
->ak  grow;  but  a  live  oak  grows  without  stretching. 


184 


SECRET  OF  A  HAPPY  LIFE. 


It  is  plain,  therefore,  that  the  essential  thing  is  to  get 
within  you  the  growing  life,  and  then  you  cannot  help 
but  grow.  And  this  life  is  the  “life  hid  with  Christ 
in  God,”  the  wonderful  divine  life  of  an  indwelling 
Holy  Ghost.  Be  filled  with  this,  dear  believer,  and. 
whether  you  are  conscious  of  it  or  not,  you  must  grow* 
you  cannot  help  growing.  Do  not  trouble  about  your 
growing,  but  see  to  it  that  you  have  the  growing  life. 
Abide  in  the  Vine.  Let  the  life  from  Him  flowthrough 
all  your  spiritual  veins.  Interpose  no  barrier  to  His 
mighty  life-giving  power,  “working  in  you  all  the 
good  pleasure  of  His  will.”  Yield  yourself  up  utterly 
to  His  lovely  control.  Put  your  growing  into  His 
hands  as  completely  as  you  have  put  all  3^our  other 
affairs.  Suffer  Him  to  manage  it  as  He  will.  Do  not 
concern  yourself  about  it,  nor  even  think  of  it.  Do 
not,  as  children  do,  keep  digging  up  your  plants  to 
see  if  they  are  growing.  Trust  the  Divine  Husband¬ 
man  absolutely,  and  always.  Accept  each  moment’s 
dispensation  as  it  comes  to  you,  from  His  dear  hands, 
as  being  the  needed  sunshine  or  dew  for  that  moment’s 
growth.  Say  acontinual  “  Yes  ”  to  your  Father’s  will. 
And  finally,  in  this,  as  in  all  the  other  cares  of  your 
life,  “Be  careful  for  nothing;  but  in  everything,  by 
prayer  and  supplication,  with  thanksgiving,  let  your 
requests  be  made  known  unto  God.  And  the  peace 
of  God  that  passeth  all  understanding  shall  keep  your 
hearts  and  minds  through  Christ  Jesus.” 

If  your  “growth  in  grace”  is  of  this  sort,  dear 
reader,  you  will  surely  know,  sooner  or  later,  a  won¬ 
derful  growing,  and  you  will  come  to  understand,  as 
you  cannot  now,  it  may  be,  what  the  Psalmist  meant 
when  he  said,  “The  righteous  shall  flourish  like  the 


GROWTH 


185 


palm-tree:  he  shall  grow  like  a  cedar  in  Lebanon. 
Those  that  be  planted  in  the  house  of  the  Lord  shall 
flourish  in  the  courts  of  our  God.  They  shall  bring 
forth  fruit  in  old  age;  they  shall  be  fat  and  flour¬ 
ishing.” 


186 


SEC B El  OF  A  HAPPY  LIFE . 


CHAPTER  XV. 


SERVICE. 


HERE  is,  perhaps,  no  part  of  Christian  experience 


JL  where  a  greater  change  is  known,  upon  entering 
into  this  life  hid  with  Christ  in  God,  than  in  the  matter 
of  service. 

In  all  ihe  ordinary  forms  of  Christian  life,  service  is 
apt  to  have  more  or  less  of  bondage  in  it;  that  is,  it  is 
done  purely  as  a  matter  of  duty,  and  often  as  a  trial 
and  across.  Certain  things,  which  at  the  first  may 
have  been  a  joy  and  a  delight,  become  after  a  while 
weary  tasks,  performed  faithfully,  perhaps,  but  with 
much  secret  disinclination,  and  many  confessed  or 
unconfessed  wishes  that  they  need  not  be  done  at  all, 
or  at  least  that  they  need  not  be  done  so  often.  The 
soul  finds  itself  saying,  instead  of  the  “May  I?”  of 
love,  the  “  Must  I  ?  ”  of  dut}^.  The  yoke,  which  was  at 
first  easy,  begins  to  gall,  and  the  burden  feels  heavy 
instead  of  light. 

One  dear  Christian  expressed  it  once  to  me  in  this 
way:  “When  I  was  first  converted,”  she  said,  “I  was 
so  full  of  joy  and  love,  that  I  was  only  too  glad  and 
thankful  to  be  allowed  to  do  anything  for  my^  Lord, 
and  I  eagerly  entered  every  open  door.  But  after  a 
while,  as  myearly  joy  faded  away,  andmy  loveburned 
less  fervently,  I  began  to  wish  I  had  not  been  quite  so 


SERVICE. 


187 


eager;  for  I  found  myself  involved  in  lines  of  service 
that  were  gradually  becoming  very  distasteful  and  bur¬ 
densome  to  me.  Since  I  had  begun  them;  I  could  not 
very  well  give  them  up  without  exciting  great  remark, 
and  yet  I  longed  to  do  so  increasingly.  I  was  ex¬ 
pected  to  visit  the  sick,  and  pray  beside  their  beds.  I 
was  expected  to  attend  prayermeetings,  and  speak  at 
them.  I  was  expected,  in  short,  to  be  always  ready 
for  every  effort  in  Christian  work,  and  the  sense  of 
these  expectations  bowed  me  down  continual^.  At 
'last  it  became  so  unspeakabty  burdensome  to  me  to 
live  the  sort  of  Christian  life  I  had  entered  upon,  and 
was  expected  by  all  around  me  to  live,  that  I  felt  as  if 
a.ny  kind  of  manual  labor  would  have  been  easier ; 
and  I  would  have  infinitely  preferred  scrubbing  all 
day  on  my  hands  and  knees,  to  being  compelled  to 
go  through  the  treadmill  of  my  daily  Christian  work. 
J  envied,”  she  said,  ‘‘  the  servants  in  the  kitchen,  and 
the  women  at  the  wash-tubs.” 

This  may  seem  to  some  like  a  strong  statement; 
but  does  it  not  present  a  vivid  picture  of  some  of  your 
own  experiences,  dear  Christian?  Have  you  never 
gone  to  your  work  as  a  slave  to  his  daily  task,  believ¬ 
ing  it  to  be  your  duty  and  that  therefore  you  must  do 
it,  but  rebounding  like  an  India-rubber  ball  back  into 
your  real  interests  and  pleasures  the  moment  your 
work  was  over? 

You  have  known  of  course  that  this  was  the  wrong 
way  to  feel,  and  have  been  thoroughly  ashamed  of  it, 
but  still  you  have  seen  no  way  to  help  it.  You  have 
not  loved  your  work;  and,  could  you  have  done  so 
with  an  easy  conscience,  you  would  have  been  glad  to 
give  it  up  altogether. 


188 


SECRET  OF  A  HAPPY  LIFE. 


Or,  if  this  does  not  describe  your  case,  perhaps* 
another  picture  will.  You  do  love  your  work  in  the 
abstract,  but  in  the  doing  of  it  you  find  so  many  cares 
and  responsibilities  connected  with  it,  and  feel  so 
many  misgivings  and  doubts  as  to  your  own  capacity 
or  fitness,  that  it  becomes  a  very  heavy  burden,  and 
you  go  to  it  bowed  down  and  weary,  before  the  labor 
has  even  begun.  Then  also  you  are  continually  dis* 
distressing  yourself  about  the  results  of  your  work,  and 
greatly  troubled  if  they  are  not  just  what  you  would 
like;  and  this  of  itself  is  a  constant  burden. 

Now,  from  all  these  forms  of  bondage  the  soul  that 
enters  fully  into  the  blessed  life  of  faith  is  entirely 
delivered.  In  the  first  place,  service  of  any  sort  be¬ 
comes  delightful  to  it,  because,  having  surrendered 
its  will  into  the  keeping  of  the  Lord,  He  works  in  it 
to  will  and  to  do  of  His  good  pleasure,  and  the  soul 
finds  itself  really  wanting  to  do  the  things  God  wants 
it  to  do.  It  is  always  very  pleasant  to  do  the  things 
we  want  to  do,  let  them  be  ever  so  difficult  of  accom¬ 
plishment,  or  involve  ever  so  much  of  bodily  weari¬ 
ness.  If  a  man’s  will  is  really  set  on  a  thing,  he 
regards  with  a  sublime  indifference  the  obstacles  that 
lie  in  the  way  of  his  reaching  it,  and  laughs  to  himself 
at  the  idea  of  any  opposition  or  difficulties  hindering 
nim.  How  many  men  have  gone  gladly  and  thank¬ 
fully  to  the  ends  of  the  world  in  search  of  worldly 
fortunes,  or  to  fulfil  worldly  ambitions,  and  have 
scorned  the  thought  of  any  “cross”  connected  with  it! 
How  many  mothers  have  congratulated  themselves, 
and  rejoiced  over  the  honor  done  their  sons  in  seeing 
them  promoted  to  some  place  of  power  and  usefulness 
in  their  country’s  service,  although  it  has  involved 


SERVICE. 


189 


perhaps  years  of  separation,  and  a  life  of  hardship 
for  their  dear  ones!  And  yet  these  same  men,  and 
these  verv  mothers,  would  have  felt  and  said  that 
they  were  taking  up  crosses  too  heavy  almost  to  be 
borne,  had  the  service  of  Christ  required  the  same 
.sacrifice  of  home,  and  friends,  and  worldly  ease. 

It  is  altogether  the  way  we  look  at  things,  whether 
we  think  they  are  crosses  or  not.  And  I  am  ashamed 
to  think  that  any  Christian  should  ever  put  on  a  long 
face  and  shed  tears  over  doing  a  thing  for  Christ, 
which  a  worldly  man  would  be  only  too  glad  to  do 
for  money. 

What  we  need  in  the  Christian  life  is  to  get  believers 
to  want  to  do  God’s  will  as  much  as  other  people 
want  to  do  their  own  will.  And  this  is  the  idea  of  the 
Gospel.  It  is  what  God  intended  for  us;  and  it  is 
what  he  has  promised.  In  describing  the  new  cove¬ 
nant  in  Heb.  viii.  6-13,  He  savs  it  shall  no  more  be  the 
old  covenant  made  on  Sinai, — that  is,  a  law  given  from 
the  outside,  controlling  a  man  by  force, —  but  it  shall 
be  a  law  written  within,  constraining  a  man  by  love. 
“  I  will  put  my  laws,  ”  He  says,  “into  their  mind,  and 
write  them  in  their  hearts.  ”  This  can  mean  nothing  but 
that  we  shall  love  His  law  ;  for  anything  written  in  our 
hearts  we  must  love.  “And  puttingitinto  ourminds  ’’ 
is  surely  the  same  as  God  working  in  us  to  “  will  and 
to  do  of  His  good  pleasure,”  and  means  that  we  shall 
will  what  God  wills,  and  shall  obey  His  sweet  com¬ 
mands,  not  because  it  is  our  duty  to  do  so,  but  because 
we  ourselves  want  to  do  what  he  wants  us  to  do. 

Nothing  could  possibly  be  conceived  more  effectual 
than  this.  How  often  have  we  thought,  when  dealing 
with  our  children,  “Oh,  if  I  could  only  get  inside  of 


190 


SECRET  OF  A  HAPPY  LIFE. 


tlie  m,  and  make  them  want  to  do  just  what  I  want,  how 
easy  it  would  be  to  manage  them  then ! M  How  often 
in  practical  experience  we  have  found  that,  to  deal^ 
with  cross-grained  people,  we  most  carefully  avoid  sug¬ 
gesting  our  wishes  to  them,  but  must  in  some  way  in¬ 
duce  them  to  suggest  the  thing  themselves,  sure  that 
there  will  then  be  no  opposition  to  contend  with. 
And  we,  who  are  by  nature  a  stiff-necked  people,  al¬ 
ways  'ebel  more  or  less  against  a  law  from  outside  of 
us,  while  we  joyfully  embrace  the  same  law  springing 
up  within. 

God’s  way  of  working,  therefore,  is  to  get  possession 
of  the  inside  of  a  man,  to  take  the  control  and  man¬ 
agement  of  His  will,  and  to  work  it  for  him.  Then 
obedience  is  easy  and  a  delight,  and  service  becomes 
perfect  freedom ;  until  the  Christian  is  forced  to  ex¬ 
claim,  “This  happy  service!  who  could  dream  earth 
had  such  liberty  ?  ’* 

Wha  t  you  need  to  do  then,  dear  Christian,  if  you  are 
in  bondage  in  the  matter  of  service,  is  to  put  3'our  will 
over  completely  into  the  hands  of  your  Lord,  surrend¬ 
ering  to  Him  the  entire  control  of  it.  Say,  “  Yes,  Lord, 
yes!  ”  to  everything,  and  trust  Him  so  to  work  in  you 
to  will,  as  to  bring  your  whole  wishes  and  affections 
into  conformity  with  His  own  sweet,  and  lovable,  and 
most  lDvely  will.  I  have  seen  this  done  often, in  cases 
where  it  looked  beforehand  an  utterly  impossible  thing. 
In  one  case,  where  a  lady  had  been  for  years  rebelling 
fearfully  against  a  little  act  of  service  which  she  knew 
was  right,  but  which  she  hated,  I  saw  her,  out  of  the 
depths  of  despair,  and  without  any  feeling  whatever, 
give  her  will  in  that  matter  up  into  the  hands  of  her 
Lord,  and  begin  to  say  to  Him,  “Thy  will  be  done; 


SERVICE. 


191 


Thy  will  be  done  /”  And  in  one  short  hour,  that  very 
thing  began  to  look  sweet  and  precious  to  her. 

It  is  wonderful  what  miracles  God  works  in  wills 
that  are  utterly  surrendered  to  Him.  He  turns  hard 
things  into  easy,  and  bitter  things  into  sweet.  It  is 
not  that  He  puts  easy  things  in  the  place  of  the  hard, 
but  He  actual^  changes  the  hard  thing  into  an  easy 
one,  and  makes  us  love  to  do  the  thing  we  before  so 
hated.  While  we  rebel  against  the  yoke,  and  try  to 
avoid  it,  we  find  it  hard  and  galling.  But  when  we 
“take  the  yoke  upon  us’’  with  a  consenting  will,  we 
find  it  easy  and  comfortable.  It  is  said  of  Ephraim 
that  at  one  time  he  was  like  “a  bullock  unaccustomed 
to  the  yoke,”  but  that  afterwards,  when  he  had  sub¬ 
mitted  to  the  yoke,  he  was  “as  an  heifer  that  is 
taught,  and  lovetli  to  tread  out  the  corn.” 

Many  Christians,  as  I  have  said,  love  God’s  will  in 

the  abstract,  but  carry  great  burdens  in  connection 

with  it.  From  this  also  there  is  deliverance  in  the 

wonderful  life  of  faith.  For  in  this  life  no  burdens 

are  carried,  no  anxieties  felt.  The  Lord  is  our  burden- 

bearer,  and  upon  Him  we  must  lay  off  every  care.  He 

says,  in  effect,  “  Be  careful  for  nothing,  but  make  your 

requests  known  to  me,  and  I  will  attend  to  them  all.” 

Be  careful  for  nothing ,  He  says,  not  even  your  service. 

Above  all,  I  should  think,’  our  service,  because  we 

know  ourselves  to  be  so  utterly  helpless  in  regard  to 

it,  that,  even  if  we  were  careful,  it  would  not  amount 

to  anything.  What  have  we  to  do  with  thinking 

whether  we  are  fit  or  not  ?  The  Master-workman 
/ 

surely  has  a  right  to  use  any  tool  He  pleases  for  His 
own  work,  and  it  is  plainly  not  the  business  of  the 
tool  to  decide  whether  it  is  the  right  one  to  be  used  or 


.192 


SECRET  OF  A  HAPPY  LIFE . 


not.  He  knows;  and  if  He  chooses  to  use  us,  of  course 
we  must  be  fit.  And  in  truth,  if  we  only  knew  it,  our 
chief  fitness  is  in  our  utter  helplessness.  His  strength 
is  made  perfect,  not  in  our  strength,  but  in  our  weak¬ 
ness.  Our  strength  is  only  a  hindrance. 

I  was  once  visiting  an  idiot  as3dum,  and  saw  the 
children  going  through  dumb-bell  exercises.  Now,  we 
all  know  that  it  is  a  very  difficult  thing  for  idiots  to 
manage  their  movements.  They  have  strength  enough, 
generally,  but  no  skill  to  use  this  strength,  and  as  a 
consequence  cannot  do  much.  And,  in  these  dtunb-bell 
exercises,  this  deficiency  was  very  apparent.  They 
made  all  sorts  of  awkward  movements.  Now  and 
then,  by  a  happy  chance,  they  would  make  a  move¬ 
ment  in  harmony  with  the  music  and  the  teacher’s 
directions,  but  for  the  most  part  all  was  out  of  har¬ 
mony.  One  little  girl,  however,  I  noticed,  who  made 
perfect  movements.  Not  a  jar  or  a  break  disturbed 
the  harmony  of  her  exercises.  And  the  reason  was, 
not  that  she  had  more  strength  than  the  others,  but 

that  she  had  no  strength  at  all.  She  could  not  so 

# 

much  as  close  her  hands  over  the  dumb-bells,  nor  lift 
her  arms,  and  the  master  had  to  stand  behind  her, 
and  do  it  all.  She  yielded  up  her  members  as  instru¬ 
ments  to  him,  and  his  “strength  was  made  perfect” 
in  her  weakness.  He  knew  how  to  go  through  those 
exercises,  for  he  himself  had  planned  them  ;  and  there¬ 
fore  when  he  did  it,  it  was  done  right.  She  did  noth¬ 
ing  but  yield  herself  up  utterly  into  his  hands,  and  he 
did  it  all.  The  yielding  was  her  part;  the  responsi¬ 
bility  was  all  his.  It  was  not  her  skill  that  was 
needed  to  make  harmonious  movements,  but  only 
his.  The  question  was  not  of  her  capacity,  but  of 


SERVICE. 


193 


his.  Her  utter  weakness  was  her  greatest  strength. 

To  me  this  is  a  very  striking  picture  of  our  Christian 
hie,  and  it  is  no  wonder  therefore  that  Paul  could  say, 
'  Most  gladly  therefore  will  I  rather  glory  in  my 
infirmities,  that  the  power  of  Christ  may  rest  upon 
me.”  Who  would  not  glory  in  being  so  utterly  weak 
and  helpless,  that  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  should  find  no 
hindrance  to  the  perfect  working  of  His  mighty  power 
through  us  and  in  us  ? 

Then  too,  if  the  work  is  His,  the  responsibility  is 
His,  also,  and  we  have  no  room  left  for  worrying 
about  results.  Everything  in  reference  to  it  is  known 
to  Him,  and  He  can  manage  it  all.  Why  not  leave  it 
all  with  Him,  then,  and  consent  to  be  “  treated  like  a 
child  and  guided  where  to  go  ?  ”  It  is  a  fact  that  the 
most  effectual  workers  I  know,  are  those  who  do  not 
feel  the  least  care  or  anxiety  about  their  work,  but  who 
commit  it  all  to  their  dear  Master,  and,  asking  Him 
to  guide  them  moment  by  moment  in  reference  to  it 
trust  Him  implicitly  for  each  moment’s  needed  sup¬ 
plies  of  wisdom  and  of  strength.  To  look  at  them, 
you  would  almost  think,  perhaps,  that  they  were  too 
free  from  care,  where  such  mighty  interests  are  at 
stake.  But  when  you  have  learned  God’s  secret  of 
trusting,  and  see  the  beauty  and  the  power  of  the  life 
that  is  yielded  up  to  His  working,  you  will  cease  to 
condemn,  and  will  begin  to  wonder  how  any  of  God’s 
workers  can  dare  to  carry  the  burdens,  or  assume  the 
responsibilities,  which  He  alone  is  able  to  bear. 

Some  may  object  tha  t  the  Apostle  Paul  spoke  of  the 
‘'care  of  the  Churches”  coming  upon  him.  But  we 
must  not  fail  to  remember  that  it  was  the  constant 
habit  of  the  Apostle  to  roll  every  care  off  on  the  Lord,- 


194 


SECRET  OF  A  HAPPY  LIFE. 


and  thus  ,  while  full  of  care,  to  be  “  without  carefulness/’ 

There  are  one  or  two  other  bonds  in  service  from 
which  this  life  of  trust  delivers  us.  We  find  out  that 
no  one  individual  is  responsible  for  all  the  work  in  the 
world,  but  only  for  a  small  share.  Our  duty  ceases  to 
be  universal,  and  becomes  personal  and  individual. 
The  Master  does  not  say  to  us,  “Go  and  do  every¬ 
thing,  ”  but  he  marks  out  an  especial  path  for  each  one 
of  us,  and  gives  to  each  one  of  us  an  especial  duty. 
There  are  “  diversities  of  gifts  ”  in  the  kingdom  of  God, 
and  these  gifts  are  divided  to  “every  man  according  to 
his  several  ability.”  I  may  have  five  talents,  or  two, 
or  only  one ;  I  may  be  called  to  do  twenty  things,  or 
only  one.  My  responsibility  is  simply  to  do  that  which 
I  am  called  to  do,  and  nothing  more.  “The  steps  of 
a  good  man  are  ordered  of  the  Lord;”  not  his  way- 
only,  but  each  separate  step  in  that  way. 

Many  Christians  make  the  further  mistake  of  look¬ 
ing  upon  every  act  of  service  as  of  perpetual  obligation. 
They  think  because  it  was  right  for  them  to  give  a 
tract  to  one  person  in  a  railway  train,  for  instance, 
that  therefore  they  are  always  to  give  tracts  to  every¬ 
body,  and  in  this  way  they  burden  themselves  with  an 
impossible  duty. 

There  was  a  young  Christian  once,  who,  because 
she  had  been  sent  to  speak  a  message  to  one  soul 
whom  she  met  in  a  walk,  supposed  it  was  a  per¬ 
petual  obligation,  and  thought  she  must  speak  about 
thei'  souls  to  every  one  she  met  in  her  walks. 
This  was  of  course  impossible,  and  as  a  consequence 
she  was  soon  in  hopeless  bondage  about  it.  She 
became  absolutely  afraid  to  go  outside  of  her  own 
door,  and  lived  in  perpetual  condemnation.  At  last 


SERVICE. 


195 


she  disclosed  her  distress  to  a  friend,  who  was  in¬ 
structed  in  the  ways  of  God  with  his  servants;  and 
this  friend  told  her  she  was  making  a  great  mistake ; 
that  the  Lord  had  His  own  especial  work  for  each 
especial  workman,  and  that  the  servants  in  a  well- 
regulated  household  might  as  well  each  one  take  it 
upon  themselves  to  try  to  do  the  work  of  all  the 
rest,  as  for  the  Lord’s  servants  to  think  they  were 
each  one  under  obligation  to  do  everything.  He 
told  her  just  to  put  herself  under  the  Lord’s  per¬ 
sonal  guidance  as  to  her  work,  and  trust  Him  to 
point  out  to  her  each  particular  person  to  whom  He 
would  have  her  speak,  assuring  her  that  He  never 
puts  forth  His  own  sheep  without  going  before  them, 
and  making  a  way  for  them  Himself.  She  followed 
this  advice,  and  laid  the  burden  of  her  work  on  the 
Lord,  and  the  result  was  a  happy  pathway  of  daily 
guidance,  in  which  she  was  led  into  much  blessed 
work  for  her  Master,  and  was  able  to  doit  all  without 
a  care  or  a  burden,  because  He  led  her  out  and  pre¬ 
pared  the  way  before  her. 

I  have  been  very  much  instructed  myself  by  think¬ 
ing  of  the  arrangements  of  our  own  households.  When 
we  appoint  a  servant  for  an  especial  part  of  the  work 
of  the  household,  we  want  him  to  attend  to  that  alone, 
and  not  run  all  over  the  house  trying  to  attend  to 
the  work  of  all  the  other  servants.  It  would  make 
endless  confusion  in  any  earthly  household  if  the 
servants  were  to  act  in  this  fashion,  and  it  makes  no 
less  confusion  in  the  Divine  household. 

Our  part  in  the  matter  of  service  seems  to  me  just 
like  making  the  junction  between  the  machinery  and 
the  steam-engine.  The  power  is  not  in  the  machin- 


196 


SECRET  OF  A  HAPPY  LIFE . 


ery,  but  in  the  steam.  Disconnected  from  the  engine, 
the  machinery  is  perfectly  useless.  But  let  the  con¬ 
nection  be  made,  and  the  machinery  goes  easily  and 
without  effort,  because  of  the  mighty  power  there  is 
behind  it.  Thus  the  Christian  life,  when  it  is  the  de¬ 
velopment  of  the  Divine  life  working  within,  becomes 
an  easy  and  natural  life.  Most  Christians  live  on  a 
strain,  because  their  wills  are  not  fully  in  harmony  with 
the  will  of  God,  the  connection  is  not  perfectly  made 
at  every  point,  and  it  requires  an  effort  to  move  the  ma¬ 
chinery.  But  when  once  the  connection  is  fully  made, 
and  the  “law  of  the  Spirit  of  life  in  Christ  Jesus” 
can  work  in  us  with  all  its  mighty  power,  we  are  then 
indeed  made  “free  from  the  law  of  sin  and  death,”  and 
shall  know  the  glorious  liberty  of  the  children  of  God. 

Another  form  of  bondage  as  to  service,  from  which 
the  life  of  faith  delivers  the  soul,  is  in  reference  to 
the  after-reflections  which  always  follow  any  Chris¬ 
tian  work.  These  after-reflections  are  of  two  sorts: 
either  the  soul  congratulates  itself  upon  its  success, 
and  is  lifted  up ;  or  it  is  distressed  over  its  failure,  and 
is  utterly  cast  down.  One  of  these  is  sure  to  come; 
and  of  the  two  I  think  the  former  is  the  more  to  be 
dreaded,  although  the  latter  causes  at  the  time  the 
greater  suffering.  But  in  the  life  of  trust  neither 
will  trouble  us;  for,  having  committed  ourselves  in 
our  work  to  the  Lord,  we  shall  be  satisfied  to  leave  it 
to  Him,  and  shall  not  think  about  ourselves  in  the 
matter  at  all. 

Years  ago  I  came  across  this  sentence  in  an.  old  book  : 
“Never  indulge,  at  the  close  of  an  action,  in  any  self- 
reflective  acts  of  any  kind,  whether  of  self-congratula¬ 
tion  or  of  self-despair.  Forget  the  things  that  are 


SERVICE. 


197 


behind,  the  moment  they  are  past,  leaving  them  with 
God.”  This  has  been  of  unspeakable  value  to  me. 
When  the  temptation  comes,  as  it  mostly  does  to 
every  worker  after  the  performance  of  any  service,  to 
indulge  in  these  reflections,  either  of  one  sort  or  the 
other,  I  turn  from  them  at  once  and  positively  refuse 
to  think  about  my  work  at  all,  leaving  it  with  the 
Lord  to  overrule  the  mistakes,  and  to  bless  it  as  He 
chooses.  I  believe  there  would  be  far  fewer  “blue 
Mondays”  for  ministers  of  the  Gospel  than  there  are 
now,  if  they  would  adopt  this  plan ;  and  I  am  sure  all 
workers  would  find  their  work  far  less  wearing. 

To  sum  it  all  up,  then,  what  is  needed  for  happy  and 
effectual  service  is  simply  to  put  your  work  into  the 
Lord’s  hands,  and  leave  it  there.  Do  not  take  it  to 
Him  in  prayer,  saying,  “Lord,  guide  me;  Lord,  give 
me  wisdom ;  Lord,  arrange  for  me,”  and  then  rise  from 
your  knees,  and  take  the  burden  all  back,  and  try  to 
guide  and  arrange  for  yourself.  Leave  it  with  the 
Lord ;  and  remember  that  what  you  trust  to  Him,  you 
must  not  worry  over  nor  feel  anxious  about.  Trust 
and  worry  cannot  go  together.  If  your  work  is  a  bur¬ 
den,  it  is  because  you  are  not  trusting  it  to  Him.  But 
if  you  do  trust  it  to  Him,  you  will  surely  find  that  the 
yoke  He  puts  upon  you  is  easy,  and  the  burden  He 
gives  you  to  carry  is  light :  and,  even  in  the  midst  of  a 
life  of  ceaseless  activity,  you  shall  “find  rest  to  your 
soul.” 

If  the  Divine  Master  only  had  a  band  of  such  work¬ 
ers  as  this,  there  is  no  limit  to  what  He  might  do  with 
them.  Truly,  one  such  would  “chase  a  thousand, 
and  two  would  put  ten  thousand  to  flight,”  and  noth¬ 
ing  would  be  impossible  to  them.  For  it  is  nothing 


198 


SECRET  OF  A  HAPPY  LIFE. 


with  the  Lord  “to  help,  whether  with  many,  or  with 
them  that  have  no  power,”  if  only  He  can  find  instru¬ 
ments  that  are  fully  abandoned  to  His  working. 

May  God  raise  up  such  an  army  speedily!  And  may 
you,  my  dear  reader,  enroll  your  name  among  this 
band,  and,  yielding  yourself  unto  God  as  one  who  is 
“alive  from  the  dead,”  may  every  one  of  your  members 
be  also  yielded  unto  Him  as  “instruments  of  righteous¬ 
ness,”  to  be  used  by  Him  as  He  pleases! 


PRACTICAL  RESULTS. 


199 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

ITS  PRACTICAL  RESULTS  IN  THE  DAILY  WALK 
AND  CONVERSATION. 

IF  all  that  has  been  written  in  the  foregoing  chapters 
on  the  life  hid  with  Christ  be  true,  its  results  in  the 
practical  daily  walk  and  conversation  ought  to  be  very 
marked,  and  the  people  who  have  entered  into  the  en¬ 
joyment  of  it  ought  to  be,  in  very  truth,  a  peculiar 
people,  zealous  of  good  works. 

My  son,  now  with  God,  once  wrote  to  a  friend 
something  to  this  effect:  that  we  are  God’s  witnesses 
necessarily,  because  the  world  will  not  read  the  Bible, 
but  they  will  read  our  lives ;  and  that  upon  the  report 
these  give,  will  very  much  depend  their  belief  in  the 
divine  nature  of  the  religion  we  possess.  This  age  is 
essentially  an  age  of  facts,  and  all  scientific  inquiries 
are  being  increasingly  turned  from  theories  to  realities. 
If,  therefore,  our  religion  is  to  make  any  headway  in 
the  present  time,  it  must  be  proved  to  be  more  than  a 
theory ;  and  we  must  present  to  the  investigation  of 
the  critical  minds  of  our  age  the  realities  of  lives 
transformed  by  the  mighty  power  of  God,  “working 
in  them  all  the  good  pleasure  of  His  will.’’ 

I  desire,  therefore,  to  speak  very  solemnly  of  what  I 
conceive  to  be  the  necessary  fruits  of  a  life  of  faith  such 
as  I  have  been  describing,  and  to  press  home  to  the 
hearts  of  every  one  of  my  readers  their  personal  re- 


200 


SECRET  OF  A  HAPPY  LIFE. 


sponsibility  to  “walk  worthy  of  the  high  calling” 
wherewith  they  have  been  called. 

I  think  that  I  may  speak  to  some  of  you,  at  least,  as 
personal  friends,  for  I  feel  sure  we  have  not  gone  thus 
far  together  through  these  pages,  without  ther^ having 
grown  in  your  hearts,  as  there  has  in  mine,  a  tender 
personal  interest  and  longing  for  one  another,  that 
we  may  in  everything  show  forth  the  praises  of  Him 
who  has  “called  us  out  of  darkness  into  His  marvel¬ 
ous  light.”  As  a  friend,  then,  to  friends,  I  speak,  and 
I  am  sure  I  shall  be  pardoned  if  I  go  into  some  details 
of  our  daily  lives,  which  may  seem  of  secondary  im¬ 
portance,  and  which  make  up  the  largest  part  of  them. 

The  standard  of  practical  holy  living  has  been  so 
low  among  Christians,  that  the  least  degree  of  real  de¬ 
votedness  of  life  and  walk  is  looked  upon  with  surprise 
and  often  even  with  disapprobation,  by  a  large  por¬ 
tion  of  the  Church.  And,  for  the  most  part,  the  fol¬ 
lowers  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  are  satisfied  with  a  life 
so  conformed  to  the  world,  and  so  like  it  in  almost 
every  respect,  tnat,  to  a  casual  observer,  no  difference 
is  discernible. 

But  we,  who  have  heard  the  call  of  our  God  to  a 
life  of  entire  consecration  and  perfect  trust,  must  do 
differently.  We  must  come  out  from  the  world  and 
be  separate,  and  must  not  be  conformed  to  it  in  our 
characters  or  in  our  lives.  We  must  set  our  affec¬ 
tions  on  heavenly  things,  not  on  earthly  ones,  and 
must  seek  first  the  kingdom  of  God  and  His  right¬ 
eousness  ;  surrendering  every  thing  that  would  inter¬ 
fere  with  this.  We  must  walk  through  the  world  as 
Christ  walked.  We  must  have  the  mind  that  was  in 
Him.  As  pilgrims  and  strangers,  we  must  abstain 


PRACTICAL  RESULTS. 


201 


from  fleshly  lusts  that  war  against  the  soul.  As  good 
soldiers  of  Jesus  Christ,  we  must  disentangle  ourselves 
inwardly  from  the  affairs  of  this  life,  that  we  may 
please  Him  who  hath  chosen  us  to  be  soldiers.  We 
must  abstain  from  all  appearance  of  evil.  We  must 
be  kind  to  one  another,  tender-hearted,  forgiving  one 
another,  even  as  God,  for  Christ’s  sake,,  hath  forgiven 
us.  We  must  not  resent  injuries  or  unkindness,  but 
must  return  good  for  evil,  and  turn  the  other  cheek 
to  the  hand  that  smites  us.  We  must  take  always  the 
lowest  place  among  our  fellow-men;  and  seek,  notour 
own  honor,  but  the  honor  of  others.  We  must  be 
gentle,  and  meek,  and  yielding;  not  standing  up  for 
our  own  rights,  but  for  the  rights  of  others.  We  must 
do  everything,  not  for  our  own  glory,  but  for  the  glory 
of  God.  And,  to  sum  it  all  up,  since  He  who  hath 
called  us  is  holy,  so  we  must  be  holy  in  all  manner  of 
conversation;  because  it  is  written,  “Be  ye  holy,  lor 
I  am  holy.  ” 

Some  Christians  seem  to  think  that  all  the  require¬ 
ments  of  a  holy  life  are  met,  when  there  is  very  active 
and  successful  Christian  work;  and  because  they  do 
so  much  for  the  Lord  in  public,  they  feel  a  liberty  to 
be  cross  and  ugly  and  un-Christlike  in  private.  But 
this  is  not  the  sort  of  Christan  life  I  am  depicting. 
If  we  are  to  walk  as  Christ  walked,  it  must  be  in  pri¬ 
vate  as  well  as  in  public,  at  home  as  well  as  abroad  ; 
and  it  must  be  every  hour  all  day  long,  and  not  at 
stated  periods  or  on  certain  fixed  occasions.  We 
must  be  just  as  Christlike  to  our  servants  as  we  are 
to  our  minister,  and  just  as  “good  ’’  in  our  counting- 
house  as  we  are  in  our  prayer-meeting. 

It  is  in  daily  homely  living,  indeed,  that  practical 


202 


SECRET  OF  A  HAPPY  LIFE. 


piety  can  best  show  itself,  and  we  may  well  question 
any  “professions”  that  fail  under  this  test  of  daily 
life. 

A  cross  Christian,  or  an  anxious  Christian,  a  dis¬ 
couraged,  gloomy  Christian,  a  doubting  Christian,  a 
complaining  Christian,  an  exacting  Christian,  a  self¬ 
ish  Christian,  a  cruel,  hard-hearted  Christian,  a  self- 
indulgent  Christian,  a  Christian  with  a  sharp  tongue 
or  bitter  spirit,  all  these  may  be  very  earnest  in  their 
work,  and  may  have  honorable  places  in  the  Church; 
but  they  are  not  Christlike  Christians,  and  they  know 
nothing  of  the  realities  of  which  this  book  treats,  no 
matter  how  loud  their  professions  may  be. 

The  life  hid  with  Christ  in  God  is  a  hidden  life,  as 
to  its  source,  but  it  must  not  be  hidden  as  to  its  prac¬ 
tical  results.  People  must  see  that  we  walk  as  Christ 
walked,  if  we  say  that  we  are  abiding  in  Him.  We 
must  prove  that  we  “possess”  that  which  we  “pro¬ 
fess.”  We  must,  in  short,  be  real  followers  of  Christ, 
and  not  theoretical  ones  only.  And  this  means  a  great 
deal.  It  means  that  we  must  really  and  absolutely 
turn  our  backs  on  everything  that  is  contrary  to  the 
perfect  will  of  God.  It  means  that  we  are  to  be  a 
“peculiar  people,”  not  only  in  the  eyes  of  God,  but  in 
the  eyes  of  the  world  around  us;  and  that,  wherever 
we  go,  it  will  be  known  from  our  habits,  our  tempers, 
our  conversation  and  our  pursuits,  that  we  are  follow¬ 
ers  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  are  not  of  the  world, 
even  as  He  was  not  of  the  world.  We  must  no  longer 
look  upon  our  money  as  our  own, but  as  belonging  to 
the  Lord,  to  be  used  in  His  service.  We  must  not 
feel  at  liberty  to  use  our  energies  exclusively  in  the 

pursuit  of  worldly  means,  but  must  recognize,  that,  if 

• 


PRACTICAL  RESULTS . 


203 


we  seek  first  the  kingdom  of  God  and  His  righteous¬ 
ness,  all  needful  things  shall  be  added  unto  us.  We 
shall  find  ourselves  forbidden  to  seek  the  highest 
places,  or  to  strain  after  worldly  advantages.  We 
shall  not  be  permitted  to  make  self,  as  heretofore,  the 
centre  of  all  our  thoughts  and  all  ouraims.  Our  days 
will  have  to  be  spent,  not  in  serving  ourselves,  but  in 
serving  the  Lord ;  and  we  shall  find  ourselves  called 
upon  to  bear  one  another’s  burdens,  and  so  fulfil  the 
law  of  Christ.  And  all  our  daily  homely  duties  will  be 
more  perfectly  performed  than  ever,  because  whatever 
we  do  will  be  done,  “not  with  eye-service,  as  men- 
pleasers,  but  as  the  servants  of  Christ,  doing  the  will 
of  God  from  the  heart.” 

Into  all  this  we  shall  undoubtedly  be  led  by  the 
Spirit  of  God,  if  we  give  ourselves  up  to  His  guidance. 
But  unless  we  have  the  right  standard  of  Christian  life 
set  before  us,  we  may  be  hindered  by  our  ignorance 
from  recognizing  His  voice;  and  it  is  for  this  reason  I 
desire  to  be  very  plain  and  definite  in  my  statements. 

I  have  noticed  that  wherever  there  has  been  a  faith¬ 
ful  following  of  the  Lord  in  a  consecrated  soul,  several 
things  have,  sooner  or  later,  inevitably  followed. 

Meekness  and  quietness  of  spirit  become  in  time  the 
characteristics  of  the  daily  life.  A  submissive  accept¬ 
ance  of  the  will  of  God,  as  it  comes  in  the  hourly 
events  of  each  day,  is  manifested ;  pliability  in  the 
hands  of  God  to  do  or  to  suffer  all  the  good  pleasure 
of  His  will ;  sweetness  under  provocation ;  calmness 
in  the  midst  of  turmoil  and  bustle;  a  yielding  to  the 
wishes  of  others,  and  an  insensibility  to  slights  and 
affronts;  absence  of  worry  or  anxiety;  deliverance 
from  care  and  fear, —  all  these,  and  many  other  simi- 


204 


SECRET  OF  A  HAPPY  LIFE. 


lar  graces,  are  invariably  found  to  be  the  natural  out¬ 
ward  development  of  that  inward  life  which  is  hid  with 
Christ  in  God.  Then  as  to  the  habits  of  life:  we  al¬ 
ways  see  such  Christians  sooner  or  later  laying  aside 
thoughts  of  self,  and  becoming  full  of  consideration 
for  others;  they  dress  and  live  in  simple,  healthful 
ways;  they  renounce  self-indulgent  habits,  and  surren¬ 
der  all  purely  fleshly  gratifications.  Some  helpful  work 
for  others  is  taken  up,  and  useless  occupations  are 
dropped  out  of  the  life.  God’s  glory,  and  the  welfare 
of  His  creatures,  become  the  absorbing  delight  of  the 
soul.  The  voice  is  dedicated  to  Him,  to  be  used  in 
singing  His  praises.  The  purse  is  placed  at  His 
disposal.  The  pen  is  dedicated  to  write  for  Him,  the 
lips  to  speak  for  Him,  the  hands  and  the  feet  to  do  His 
bidding.  Year  after  year  such  Christians  are  seen  to 
grow  more  unworldly,  more  serene,  more  heavenly- 
minded,  more  transformed,  more  like  Christ,  until  even 
their  very  faces  express  so  much  of  the  beautiful  in¬ 
ward  divine  life,  that  all  who  look  at  them  cannot  but 
take  knowledge  of  them  that  th^y  live  with  Jesus,  and 
are  abiding  in  Him. 

I  feel  sure  that  to  each  one  of  you  have  come  some 
divine  intimations  or  forshadowings  of  the  life  I  here 
describe.  Have  you  not  begun  to  feel  dimly  conscious 
of  the  voice  of  God  speaking  to  you,  in  the  depths  of 
your  soul,  about  these  things  ?  Has  it  not  been  a 
pain  and  a  distress  to  you  of  late  to  discover  how  full 
your  lives  are  of  self?  Has  not  your  soul  been  plunged 
into  inward  trouble  and  doubt  about  certain  disposi¬ 
tions  or  pursuits  in  which  you  have  been  formerly  ac¬ 
customed  to  indulge?  Have  you  not  begun  to  feel 
uneasy  with  some  of  your  habits  of  life,  and  to  wish 


PRACTICAL  RESULTS. 


205 


that  you  could  do  differently  in  certain  respects  ?  Have 
not  paths  of  devotedness  and  of  service  begun  to  open 
out  before  you,  with  the  longing  thought,  “  Oh  that  I 
could  walk  in  them !  ”  All  these  questions  and  doubts 
and  this  inward  yearning,  are  the  voice  of  the  Good 
Shepherd  in  your  heart,  seeking  to  call  you  out  of  that 
which  is  contrary  to  His  will.  Let  me  entreat  of  you 
not  to  turn  away  from  His  gentle  pleadings!  You 
little  know  the  sweet  paths  into  which  He  means  to 
lead  you  by  these  very  steps,  nor  the  wonderful  stores 
of  blessedness  that  lie  at  their  end,  or  you  would 
spring  forward  with  an  eager  joy  to  yield  to  everyone 
of  His  requirements.  The  heights  of  Christian  perfec¬ 
tion  can  onty  be  reached  by  each  moment  faithfully 
following  the  Guide  who  is  to  lead  you  there ;  and  He 
reveals  the  way  to  us  one  step  at  a  time,  in  the  little 
things  of  our  daily  lives,  asking  only  on  our  part  that 
we  yield  ourselves  up  to  His  guidance.  Be  perfectly 
pliable  then  in  His  dear  hands,  to  go  where  He  entices 
you,  and  to  turn  away  from  all  from  which  He  makes 
you  shrink.  Obey  Him  perfectly  the  moment  you  are 
sure  of  His  will;  and  you  will  soon  find  that  He  is 
leading  you  out  swiftly  and  easily  into  such  a  wonder¬ 
ful  life  of  conformity  to  Himself,  that  it  will  be  a  testi¬ 
mony  to  all  around  you,  beyond  what  you  yourself 
will  ever  know. 

I  knew  a  soul  thus  given  up  to  follow  the  Lord 
whithersoever  He  might  lead  her,  who  in  a  very  little 
while  travelled  from  the  depths  of  darkness  and  de¬ 
spair,  into  the  realization  and  actual  experience  ,of 
a  most  blessed  union  with  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 
Out  of  the  midst  of  her  darkness  she  consecrated 
herself  to  the  Lord,  surrendering  her  will  up  altogether 


206 


SECRET  OF  A  HAPPY  LIFE . 


to  Him,  that  He  might  work  in  her  to  will  and  to  do 
of  His  own  good  pleasure.  Immediately  He  began  to 
speak  to  her  by  His  Spirit  in  her  heart,  suggesting  to 
her  some  little  acts  of  service  for  Him,  and  troubling 
her  about  certain  things  in  her  habits  and  her  life, 
showing  her  where  she  was  selfish  and  un-Christlike, 
and  how  she  could  be  transformed.  She  recognized 
His  voice,  and  yielded  to  Him  each  thing  He  asked  for, 
the  moment  she  was  sure  of  His  will.  Her  swift 
obedience  was  rewarded  by  a, rapid  progress,  and  day 
by  day  she  was  conformed  more  and  more  to  the 
image  of  Christ,  until  very  soon  her  life  became  such  a 
testimony  to  those  around  her,  that  some  even  who 
had  begun  by  opposing  and  disbelieving  were  forced 
to  acknowledge  that  it  was  of  God,  and  were  won  to 
a  similar  surrender.  And  finally,  in  a  little  while 
it  came  to  pass,  so  swiftly  had  she  gone,  that  her 
Lord  was  able  to  reveal  to  her  wondering  soul  some 
of  the  deepest  secrets  of  His  love,  and  to  fulfil  to 
her  the  mavellous  promise  of  Acts  i.  5,  by  giving  her 
to  realize  the  baptism  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  Think  you 
she  has  ever  regretted  her  whole-hearted  following  of 
Him?  Or  that  aught  but  thankfulness  and  joy  can 
ever  fill  her  soul,  when  she  reviews  the  steps  by  which 
her  feet  have  been  led  to  this  place  of  wondrous  bless¬ 
edness,  even  though  some  of  them  may  have  seemed 
at  the  time  hard  to  take  ?  Ah,  dear  soul,  if  thou  wouldst 
know  a  like  blessing,  abandon  thyself,  like  her,  to  the 
guidance  of  th}r  divine  Master,  and  shrink  from  no 
surrender  for  which  He  may  call. 

“The  perfect  way  is  hard  to  flesh, 

It  is  not  hard  to  love ; 

If  thou  wert  sick  for  want  of  God, 

How  swiftly  wouldst  thou  move  I" 


PRACTICAL  RESULTS. 


207 


Surely  thou  canst  trust  Him!  And  if  some  things 
may  be  called  for  that  look  to  thee  of  but  little 
moment,  and  not  worthy  thy  Lord’s  attention,  remem¬ 
ber  that  He  sees  not  as  man  seeth,  and  that  things 
small  to  thee  may  be  in  His  e3^es  the  key  and  the 
clew  to  the  deepest  springs  of  thy  being.  No  life 
can  be  complete  that  fails  in  its  little  things.  A  look, 
a  word,  a  tone  of  voice  even,  however  small  they  may 
seem  to  human  judgment,  are  often  of  vital  impor¬ 
tance  in  the  eyes  cf  God.  Thy  one  great  desire  is 
to  follow  Him  fully ;  canst  thou  not  say  then  a  con¬ 
tinual  i“  Yes”  to  all  His  sweet  commands,  whether 
small  or  great,  and  trust  Him  to  lead  thee,  by  the 
shortest  road,  to  thy  fullest  blessedness  ? 

My  dear  friend,  whether  thou  knew  it  or  not,  this, 
and  nothing  less  than  this,  is  what  thy  consecration 
meant.  It  meant  inevitable  obedience.  It  meant  that 
the  will  of  thy  God  was  henceforth  to  be  thy  will, 
under  all  circumstances  and  at  all  times.  It  meant 
that  from  that  moment  thou  didst  surrender  thy  lib¬ 
erty  of  choice,  and  gave  thyself  up  utterly  into  the  con¬ 
trol  of  thy  Lord.  It  meant  an  hourly  following  of 
Him,  whithersoever  He  might  lead  thee,  without  any 
turning  back. 

All  this  and  far  more  was  involved  in  thy  surrender 
to  God,  and  now  I  appeal  to  thee  to  make  good  thy 
word.  Let  everything  else  go,  that  thou  mayst  live 
out,  in  a  practical  daily  walk  and  conversation,  the 
Christ-life  thou  hast  dwelling  within  thee.  Thou  art 
united  to  thy  Lord  by  a  wondrous  tie;  walk,  then,  as 
He  walked,  and  show  to  the  unbelieving  world  the 
blessed  reality  of  His  mighty  power  to  save,  by 
letting  Him  save  thee  to  the  very  uttermost.  Thou 


208 


SECRET  OF  A  HAPPY  LIFE. 


needst  not  fear  to  consent  to  this,  for  He  is  thy 
Saviour,  and  His  power  is  to  do  it  all.  He  is  not 
asking  thee,  in  thy  poor  weakness,  to  do  it  thyself; 
He  only  asks  thee  to  yield  thyself  to  Him,  that  He 
may  work  in  thee  and  through  thee  by  His  own  mighty 
power.  Thy  part  is  to  yield  thyself,  His  part  is  to 
work ;  and  never,  never  will  He  give  thee  any  command 
that  is  not  accompanied  by  ample  power  to  obey  it. 
Take  no  thought  for  the  morrow  in  this  matter;  but 
abandon  thyself  with  a  generous  trust  to  the  good 
Shepherd,  who  has  promised  never  to  call  His  own 
sheep  out  into  any  path,  without  Himself  going  before 
them  to  make  the  way  easy  and  safe.  Take  each  little 
step  as  He  makes  it  plain  to  thee.  Bring  all  thy  life, 
in  each  of  its  details,  to  Him  to  regulate  and  guide. 
Follow  gladly  and  quickly  the  sweet  suggestions  of 
His  Spirit  in  thy  soul.  And  day  by  day  thou  wilt  find 
Him  bringing  thee  more  and  more  into  conformity 
with  His  will  in  all  things;  moulding  thee  and  fashion¬ 
ing  thee,  as  thou  art  able  to  bear  it,  into  a  “vessel  unto 
His  honor,  sanctified  and  meet  for  His  use,  and  fitted 
to  every  good  work.”  So  shall  be  given  to  thee  the 
sweet  joy  of  being  an  “epistle  of  Christ,  known  and 
read  of  all  men;  ”  and  thy  light  shall  shine  so  brightly, 
that  men  seeing,  not  thee,  but  thy  good  works,  shall 
glorify,  not  thee,  but  thy  Father  which  is  in  heaven. 

“  But  thou  art  making-  me,  I  thank  thee,  Sire. 

What  thou  hast  done  and  doest.  thou  knowest  well, 

And  I  will  help  thee:  gently  in  thy  fire 

I  will  lie  burning;  on  thy  potter’s  wheel 
I  will  whirl  patient,  though  my  brain  should  reel  ; 

Thy  grace  shall  be  enough  the  grief  to  quell, 

And  growing  strength  perfect,  through  weakness  dire. 

“I  have  not  knowledge,  wisdom,  insight,  thought, 

Nor  understandiug,  fit  to  justify 


PRACTIAL  RESULTS. 


209 


Thee  in  thy  work,  O  Perfect !  Thou  hast  brought 
Me  up  to  this  ;  and  lo  !  what  thou  hast  wrought, 

I  cannot  comprehend.  But  I  can  cry, 

‘O  enemy,  the  Maker  hath  not  done; 

One  day  thou  shalt  behold,  and  from  the  sight  shalt  run!* 

“Thou  workest  perfectly.  And  if  it  seem 

Some  things  are  not  so  well,  ’tis  but  because 
They  are  too  loving  deep,  too  lofty  wise, 

For  me,  poor  child,  to  understand  their  laws. 

My  highest  wisdom,  half  is  but  a  dream  ; 

My  love  runs  helpless  like  a  falling  stream  ; 

Thy  good  embraces  ill,  and  lo!  its  illness  dies.”  * 


♦George  Macdonald. 


210 


SECRET  OF  A  HAPPY  LIFE . 


CHAPTER  XVn. 

THE  JOY  OF  OBEDIENCE. 

HAVING  spoken  of  some  of  the  difficulties  in  this 
life  of  faith,  let  me  now  speak  of  some  of  its 
joys.  And  foremost  among  these  stands  the  joy  of 
obedience. 

Long  ago  I  met  some  where  with  this  sentence, 
“Perfect  obedience  would  be  perfect  happiness,  if 
only  we  had  perfect  confidence  in  the  power  we  were 
obeying.  ’’  I  remember  being  struck  with  the  saying, 
as  the  revelation  of  a  possible,  although  hitherto  un¬ 
dreamed-of,  way  of  happiness ;  and  often  afterwards, 
even  when  full  of  inward  rebellion,  did  that  saying 
recur  to  me  as  the  vision  of  a  rest,  and  yet  of  a  pos¬ 
sible  development,  that  would  soothe,  and  at  the  same 
time  satisfy  all  my  yearnings. 

Need  I  say  that  this  rest  has  been  revealed  to  me 
now,  not  as  a  vision,  but  as  a  reality;  and  that  I 
have  seen  in  the  Lord  Jesus  the  Master  to  whom 
we  may  yield  up  our  implicit  obedience,  and,  taking 
His  yoke  upon  us,  may  find  our  perfect  rest  ? 

You  little  know,  dear  hesitating  soul,  of  the  joy 
you  are  missing.  The  Master  has  revealed  Himself 
to  you,  and  is  calling  for  your  complete  surrender, 
and  you  shrink  and  hesitate.  A  measure  of  sur¬ 
render  you  are  willing  to  make,  and  think  indeed  it 
is  fit  and  proper  that  you  should.  But  an  utter 


THE  JOY  OF  OBEDIENCE . 


211 


abandonment,  without  any  reserves,  seems  to  you 
too  much  to  be  asked  for.  You  are  afraid  of  it.  It 
involves  too  much,  you  think,  and  is  too  great  a 
risk.  To  be  measurably  obedient  you  desire;  to  be 
perfectly  obedient  appalls  you. 

Then,  too,  you  see  other  souls  who  seem  able  to 
walk  with  easy  consciences  in  a  far  wider  path  than 
that  which  appears  to  be  marked  out  for  you,  and 
you  ask  yourself  why  this  need  be.  It  seems  strange, 
and  perhaps  hard  to  you,  that  you  must  do  what  they 
need  not,  and  must  leave  undone  what  they  have 
liberty  to  do. 

Ah!  dear  Christian,  this  very  difference  between 
you  is  your  privilege,  though  you  do  not  yet  know 
it.  Your  Lord  says,  “He  that  hath  my  command' 
ments,  and  keepeth  them,  he  it  is  that  loveth  me; 
and  he  that  loveth  me  shall  be  loved  of  my  Father, 
and  I  will  love  him,  and  will  manifest  myself  to 
him.”  You  have  His  commandments;  tho.se  you 
envy,  have  them  not.  You  know  the  mind  of  your 
Lord  about  many  things,  in  which,  as  yet,  they  are 
walking  in  darkness.  Is  not  this  a  privilege?  Is 
it  a  cause  for  regret  that  your  soul  is  brought  into 
such  near  and  intimate  relations  with  your  Master, 
that  He  is  able  to  tell  you  things,  which  those  who 
are  farther  off  may  not  know  ?  Do  you  not  realize 
what  a  tender  degree  of  intimacy  is  implied  in  this  ? 

There  are  many  relations  in  life  that  require  from 
the  different  parties  only  very  moderate  degrees  ot 
devotion.  We  may  have  really  pleasant  friendships 
with  one  another,  and  yet  spend  a  large  part  of  our 
lives  in  separate  interests  and  widely  differing  pur¬ 
suits.  When  together,  we  may  greatly  enjoy  one 


1 


212 


SECRET  OF  A  HAPPY  LIFE. 


another’s  society,  and  find  many  congenial  points; 
but  separation  is  not  any  especial  distress  to  us,  and 
other  and  more  intimate  friendships  do  not  interfere. 
There  is  not  enough  love  between  us  to  give  us 

either  the  right  or  the  desire  to  enter  into  and  share 

* 

one  another’s  most  private  affairs.  A  certain  degree 
of  reserve  and  distance  seems  to  be  the  suitable  thing 
in  such  relations  as  these.  But  there  are  other  rela¬ 
tions  in  life  where  all  this  is  changed.  The  friendship 
becomes  love.  The  two  hearts  give  themselves  to 
each  other,  to  be  no  longer  two,  but  one.  A  union  of 
soul  takes  place,  which  makes  all  that  belongs  to  one 
the  property  of  the  other.  Separate  interests  and 
separate  paths  in  life  are  no  longer  possible.  Things 
that  were  lawful  before,  become  unlawful  now,  because 
of  the  nearness  of  the  tie  that  binds.  The  reserve  and 
distance  suitable  to  mere  friendship  become  fatal  in 
love.  Love  gives  all,  and  must  have  all  in  return. 
The  wishes  of  one  become  binding  obligations  to  the 
other,  and  the  deepest  desire  of  each  heart  is  that 
it  may  know  every  secret  wish  or  longing  of  the 
other,  in  order  that  it  may  fly  on  the  wings  of  the 
wind  to  gratify  it. 

Do  such  as  these  chafe  under  this  yoke  which  love 
imposes?  Do  they  envy  the  cool,  calm,  reasonable 
friendships  they  see  around  them,  and  regret  the  near¬ 
ness  into  which  their  souls  are  brought  to  their  beloved 
one,  because  of  the  obligations  it  creates  ?  Do  they 
not  rather  glory  in  these  very  obligations,  and  in¬ 
wardly  pity,  with  a  tender  yet  exulting  joy,  the 
poor  far-off  ones  who  dare  not  come  so  near?  Is 
not  every  fresh  revelation  of  the  wishes  of  the  loved 
one  a  fresh  delight  and  privilege,  and  is  any  path 


THE  JOY  OF  OBEDIENCE. 


213 


found  hard  which  their  love  compels  them  to  travel? 

Ah!  dear  soul,  if  you  have  ever  known  this,  even 
for  a  few  hours,  in  any  earthly  relation ;  if  you  have 
ever  loved  any  of  your  fellow  human  beings  enough  to 
find  sacrifice  and  service  on  their  behalf  a  joy;  if  a 
whole-souled  abandonment  of  your  will  to  the  will  of 
another  has  ever  gleamed  across  you  as  a  blessed 
and  longed-for  privilege,  or  as  a  sweet  and  precious 
reality,  then,  by  all  the  tender  longing  love  of  your 
heavenly  Lover,  would  I  entreat  you  to  let  it  be  so 
towards  Christ! 

He  loves  you  with  more  than  the  love  of  friend¬ 
ship.  As  a  bridegroom  rejoices  over  liis  bride,  so 
does  He  rejoice  over  you,  and  nothing  but  the  bride’s 
surrender  will  satisfy  Him.  He  has  given  you  all, 
and  He  asks  for  all  in  return.  The  slightest  reserve 
will  grieve  him  to  the  heart.  He  spared  not  Him¬ 
self,  and  how  can  you  spare  yourself?  For  your 
sake  He  poured  out  in  a  lavish  abandonment  all 
that  He  had,  and  for  His  sake  you  must  pour  out 
all  that  you  have,  without  stint  or  measure. 

Oh,  be  generous  in  your  self-surrender !  Meet  His 
measureless  devotion  for  you  with  a  measureless  de¬ 
votion  to  Him.  Be  glad  and  eager  to  throw  yourself 
unreservedly  into  His  loving  arms,  and  to  hand  over 
the  reins  of  government  to  Him.  Whatever  there  is  of 
you,  let  Him  have  it  all.  Give  up  forevej*  everything 
that  is  separate  from  Him.  Consent  to  resign,  from 
this  time  forward,  all  liberty  of  choice,  and  glory  in  the 
blessed  nearness  of  union  which  makes  this  enthusiasm 
of  devotedness  not  only  possible,  but  necessary. 

Have  you  never  longed  to  lavish  your  love  and  at¬ 
tentions  upon  some  one  far  off  from  you  in  position  or 


214} 


SECRET  OF  A  HAPPY  LIFE . 


circumstances,  with  whom  you  were  not  intimate 
enough  for  any  closer  approach  ?  Have  you  not  felt 
a  capacity  for  self-surrender  and  devotedness  that  has 
seemed  to  burn  within  you  like  a  fire,  and  yet  had  no 
object  upon  which  it  dared  to  lavish  itself?  Have  not 
your  hands  been  full  of  “  alabaster  boxes  of  ointment, 
very  precious,”  which  you  have  never  been  near  enough 
to  any  heart  to  pour  out  ?  If,  then,  you  are  hearing 
the  loving  voice  of  your  Lord,  calling  you  out  into  a 
place  of  nearness  to  Himself,  that  will  require  a  sepa¬ 
ration  from  all  else,  and  that  will  make  an  enthusiasm 
of  devotedness  not  only  possible,  but  necessary,  will 
you  shrink  or  hesitate?  Will  you  think  it  hard  that 
He  reveals  to  you  more  of  His  mind  than  He  does  to 
others,  and  that  He  will  not  allow  you  to  be  happy 
in  anything  that  separates  you  from  Himself?  Do 
you  want  to  go  where  He  cannot  go  with  you,  or  to 
have  pursuits  which  He  cannot  share  ? 

No  !  no,  a  thousand  times  no  !  You  will  spring  out 
to  meet  His  lovely  will  with  an  eager  joy.  Even  His 
slightest  wish  will  become  a  binding  law  to  you,  that 
it  would  fairly  break  your  heart  to  disobey.  You  will 
glory  in  the  very  narrowness  of  the  path  He  marks  out 
for  3’ou,  and  will  pity,  with  an  infinite  pity,  the  poor  far- 
off  ones  who  have  missed  this  precious  joy.  The  ob¬ 
ligations  of  love  will  be  to  you  its  sweetest  privileges; 
and  the  right  you  have  acquired  to  lavish  the  utter¬ 
most  wealth  of  abandonment  of  all  that  you  have  upon 
your  Lord,  will  seem  to  lift  you  into  a  region  of  un¬ 
speakable  glory.  The  perfect  happiness  of  perfect 
obedience  will  dawn  upon  your  soul,  and  you  will  be¬ 
gin  to  know  something  of  what  Jesus  meant  when  He 
said,  “  I  delight  to  do  thy  will,  0  my  God.” 


THE  JOY  OF  OBEDIENCE. 


215 


But  do  you  think  the  joy  in  this  will  be  all  on  your 
side?  Has  the  Lord  no  joy  in  those  who  have  thus 
surrendered  themselves  to  Him,  and  who  love  to  obey 

Him  ?  Ah,  my  friends,  we  are  not  able  to  understand 

% 

this ;  but  surely  the  Scriptures  reveal  to  us  glimpses  of 
the  delight,  the  satisfaction,  the  joy  our  Lord  has  in  us, 
which  rejoice  our  souls  with  their  marvelous  sugges¬ 
tions  of  blessedness.  That  we  should  need  Him,  is  easy 
to  comprehend  ;  that  He  should  need  us,  seems  incom¬ 
prehensible.  That  our  desire  should  be  toward  Him, 
is  a  matter  of  course ;  but  that  His  desire  should  be 
toward  us,  passes  the  bounds  of  human  belief.  And 
yet  He  says  it,  and  what  can  we  do  but  believe  Him? 
He  has  made  our  hearts  capable  of  this  supreme  over¬ 
mastering  affection,  and  has  offered  Himself,  as  the 
object  of  it.  It  is  infinitely  precious  to  Him.  So 
much  does  He  value  it,  that  He  has  made  it  the  first 
and  chiefest  of  all  His  commandments  that  we  should 
love  Him  with  all  our  might,  and  with  all  our  strength. 
Continually  at  every  heart  He  is  knocking,  asking  to 
be  taken  in  as  the  supreme  object  of  love.  “Wilt 
thou  have  me? ”  He  says  to  the  believer,  “to  be  thy 
Beloved?  Wilt  thou  follow  me  into  suffering  and 
loneliness,  and  endure  hardness  for  my  sake,  and  ask 
for  no  reward  but  my  smile  of  approval,  and  my  word 
of  praise?  Wilt  thou  throw  thyself,  with  a  passion  of 
abandonment,  into  my  will  ?  Wilt  thou  give  up  tome 
the  absolute  control  of  thyself  and  of  all  that  thou 
hast  ?  Wilt  thou  be  content  with  pleasing  me,  and 
me  only  ?  May  I  have  my  way  with  thee  in  all 
things?  Wilt  thou  come  into  so  close  a  union  with 
me  as  to  make  a  separation  from  the  world  neces¬ 
sary?  Wilt  thou  accept  me  for  thy  heavenly  Brides 


216 


SECRET  OF  A  HAPPY  LIFE. 


groom,  and  leave  all  others  to  cleave  only  unto  me?" 

In  a  thousand  ways  He  makes  this  offer  of  union 
with  Himself  to  every  believer.  But  all  do  not  say 
“Yes”  to  Him.  Other  loves  and  other  interests  seem 
to  them  too  precious  to  be  cast  aside.  They  do  not 
miss  of  Heaven  because  of  this.  But  they  miss  an 
unspeakable  present  joy. 

You,  however,  are  not  one  of  these.  From  the  very 
first  your  soul  has  cried  out  eagerly  and  gladly  to  all 
His  offers,  “Yes,  Lord,  yes!”  You  are  more  than 
ready  to  pour  out  upon  Him  all  your  richest  treasures 
of  love  and  devotedness.  You  have  brought  to  Him 
an  enthusiasm  of  self-surrender  that  perhaps  may  dis¬ 
turb  and  distress  the  so-called  prudent  and  moderate 
Christians  around  you.  Your  love  makes  necessary 
a  separation  from  the  world,  of  which  a  lower  love 
cannot  even  conceive.  Sacrifices  and  services  are  pos¬ 
sible  and  sweet  to  you,  that  could  not  come  into  the 
grasp  of  a  more  half-hearted  devotedness.  The  life 
of  love,  upon  which  you  have  entered,  gives  you  the 
right  to  a  lavish  outpouring  of  your  all  upon  your  be¬ 
loved  One.  An  intimacy  and  friendship,  which  more 
distant  souls  cannot  enter  upon,  become  now,  not 
only  your  privilege,  but  your  duty.  Your  Lord  claims 
from  you,  because  of  your  union  with  Him,  far  more 
than  He  claims  of  them.  What  to  them  is  lawful, 
love  has  made  unlawful  for  you.  To  you  He  can 
make  known  His  secrets,  and  to  you  He  looks  for  an 
instant  response  to  every  requirement  of  His  love. 

Oh,  it  is  wonderful,  the  glorious  unspeakable  privi¬ 
lege  upon  which  vou  have  entered  !  How  little  it  will 
matterto  you  if  men  shall  hate  you,  and  shall  separate 
you  from  their  company,  and  shall  reproach  you  and 


THE  JOY  OF  OBEDIENCE . 


217 


cast  out  your  name  as  evil  for  His  dear  sake!  You 
may  well  “rejoice  in  that  day,  and  leap  for  joy,”  for 
behold,  your  reward  is  great  in  heaven  ;  for  if  you  are 
a  partaker  of  His  suffering,  you  shall  also  be  of  His 
glory. 

In  you  He  is  seeing  of  the  “travail  of  His  soul,” 
and  is  satisfied.  Your  love  and  devotedness  are  His 
precious  reward  for  all  He  has  done  for  you.  It  is 
unspeakably  sweet  to  Him.  Do  not  be  afraid,  then, 
to  let  yourself  go  in  a  heart-whole  devotedness  to  your 
Lord  that  can  brook  ho  reserves.  Others  may  not 
approve,  but  he  will;  and  that  is  enough.  Do  not 
stint  or  measure  your  obedience  or  }rour  service.  Let 
your  heart  and  your  hand  be  as  free  to  serve  Him,  as 
His  heart  and  hand  were  to  serve  you.  Let  Him  have 
all  there  is  of  you,  body,  soul,  mind ,  spirit,  time,  talents, 
voice,  everything.  La}r  your  whole  life  open  before 
Him,  that  He  may  control  it.  Say  to  Him  each  day, 
“  Lord,  enable  me  to  regulate  this  day  so  as  to  please 
thee!  Give  me  spiritual  insight  to  discover  what  is 
thy  will  in  all  the  relations  of  my  life.  Guide  me  as 
to  my  pursuits,  my  friendships,  my  reading,  my  dress, 
my  Christian  work.”  Do  not  let  there  be  a  day  nor 
an  hour  in  which  you  are  not  consciously  doing  His 
will,  and  following  Him  wholly. 

A  personal  service  to  3'our  Lord,  such  as  this,  will 
give  a  halo  to  the  poorest  life,  and  gild  the  most  mo¬ 
notonous  existence  with  a  heavenly  glow.  Have  you 
ever  grieved  that  the  romance  of  youth  is  so  soon  lost 
in  the  hard  realities  of  the  world  ?  Bring  Christ  thus 
into  your  life  and  into  all  its  details,  and  a  romance, 
far  grander  than  the  brightest  daysofyouth  cotddever 
know,  will  thrill  your  soul,  and  nothing  will  seem  hard 


t 


218  SECRET  OF  A  HAPPY  LIFE. 


or  stern  again.  The  meanest  life  will  be  glorified  by 
this.  Often,  as  I  have  watched  a  poor  woman  at  her 
washtub,  and  have  thought  of  all  the  disheartening 
accessories  of  such  a  life,  and  have  been  tempted  to 
wonder  why  such  lives  need  to  be,  there  has  come  over 
me,  with  a  thrill  of  joy,  the  recollection  of  this 
possible  glorification  of  it,  and  I  have  realized  that 
even  this  homely  life  lived  in  Christ,  and  with  Christ, 
following  Him  whithersoever  He  might  lead,  would 
be  filled  with  a  spiritual  romance  that  would,  make 
every  hour  of  it  grand;  while  to  the  most  wealthy 
or  most  powerful  of  earthly  lives,  nothing  more 
glorious  could  be  possible. 

Christ  Himself,  when  He  was  on  earth,  declared 
the  truth  that  there  was  no  blessedness  equal  to  the 
blessedness  of  obedience.  “And  it  came  to  pass,  as 
He  spake  these  things,  a  certain  woman  of  the  com¬ 
pany  lifted  up  her  voice,  and  said  unto  Him,  Blessed  is 
the  womb  that  bare  thee,  and  the  paps  which  thou 
hast  sucked.  But  He  said,  Yea  rather,  blessed  are 
they  that  hear  the  word  of  God,  and  keep  it.” 

More  blessed  even  than  to  have  been  the  earthly 
mother  of  our  Lord,  or  to  have  carried  him  in  out 
arms  and  nourished  Him  in  our  bosoms,  (and  who 
could  ever  measure  the  bliss  of  that  ?)  is  it  to  hear  and 
obey  His  will ! 

May  our  surrendered  hearts  reach  out  with  an  eager 
delight  to  discover  and  embrace  the  lovely  will  of  our 
loving  God! 


DIVINU  UNION . 


219 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

DIVINE  UNION. 

ALL  the  dealings  of  God  with  the  soul  of  the  be¬ 
liever  are  in  order  to  bring  it  into  oneness  with 
Himself,  that  the  prayer  of  our  Lord  may  be  fulfilled; 
“That  they  all  may  be  one;  as  thou,  Father,  artinme, 
and  I  in  thee,  that  they  also  may  be  one  in  us.  .  .  . 

I  in  them,  and  thou  in  me,  that  they  may  be  made  per¬ 
fect  in  one;  and  that,  the  world  may  know  that  thou 
hast  sent  me,  and  hast  loved  them,  as  thou  hast  loved 
me.” 

This  Divine  union  was  the  glorious  purpose  in  the 
heart  of  God  for  His  people,  before  the  foundation  of 
the  world.  It  was  the  mystery  hid  from  ages  and 
generations.  It  was  accomplished  in  the  death  of 
Christ.  It  has  been  made  known  by  the  Scriptures; 
and  it  is  realized  as  an  actual  experience  by  many  of 
God’s  dear  children. 

But  not  by  all.  It  is  true  of  all,  and  God  has  not 
hidden  it  or  made  it  hard ;  but  the  eyes  of  many  are  too 
dim,  and  their  hearts  too  unbelieving  for  them  to 
grasp  it.  It  is  therefore  for  the  purpose  of  bringing 
His  people  into  the  personal  and  actual  realization 
of  this,  that  the  Lord  calls  upon  them  so  earnestly 
and  so  repeatedly  to  abandon  themselves  to  Him,  that 
He  may  work  in  them  all  the  good  pleasure  of  His 
will. 


220 


SECRET  OF  A  HAPPY  LIFE. 


All  the  previous  steps  in  the  Christian  life  lead  up 
to  this.  The  Lord  has  made  us  for  it;  and  until  we 
have  intelligently  apprehended  it,  and  have  voluntarily 
consented  to  embrace  it,  the  “travail  of  His  soul”  for 
us  is  not  satisfied,  nor  have  our  hearts  found  their 
destined  and  real  rest. 

The  usual  course  of  Christian  experience  is  pictured 
in  the  history  of  the  disciples.  First  they  were  awak¬ 
ened  to  see  their  condition  and  their  need,  and  the}r 
came  to  Christ,  and  gave  in  their  allegiance  to  Him. 
Then  they  followed  Him,  worked  for  Him,  believed  in 
Him  ;  and  yet  how  unlike  Him  !  Seeking  to  be  set  up 
one  above  the  other;  running  away  from  the  cross’, 
misunderstanding  His  mission  and  His  words;  forsak¬ 
ing  their  Lord  in  time  of  danger;  but  still  sent  out  to 
preach,  recognized  by  Him  as  His  disciples,  possessing 
power  to  work  for  Him.  They  knew  Christ  only 
“after  the  flesh,”  as  outside  of  them ;  their  Lord  and 
Master,  but  not  yet  their  life. 

Then  came  Pentecost,  and  these  same  disciples 
came  to  know  Him  as  inwardly  revealed ;  as  one 
with  them  in  actual  union,  their  very  indwelling  life. 
Henceforth  He  was  to  them  Christ  within,  working 
in  them  to  will  and  to  do  of  His  good  pleasure,  de¬ 
livering  them,  by  the  law  of  the  Spirit  of  His  life, 
from  the  bondage  to  the  law  of  sin  and  death  under 
which  they  had  been  held.  No  longer  was  it,  between 
themselves  and  Him,  a  war  of  wills  and  a  clashing  of 
interests.  One  will  alone  animated  them,  and  that 
was  His  will.  One  interest  alone  was  dear  to  them, 
and  that  was  His.  They  were  made  one  with  Him. 

And  surely  all  can  recognize  this  picture,  though 
perhaps  as  yet  the  final  stage  of  it  has  not  been  fully 


DIVINE  UNION. 


221 


reached.  You  may  have  left  much  to  follow  Christ, 
dear  reader;  you  may  have  believed  on  Him,  and 
worked  for  Him,  and  loved  Him,  and  yet  may  not  be 
like  Him.  Allegiance  you  know,  and  confidence  you 
know,  but  not  yet  union.  There  are  two  wills,  two 
interests,  two  lives.  You  have  not  yet  lost  your  own 
life  that  you  may  live  only  in  His.  Once  it  was  “I  and 
not  Christ.”  Next  it  was  “I  and  Christ.”  Perhaps 
now  it  is  even  “Christ  and  I.”  But  has  it  come  yet 
to  be  Christ  only,  and  not  I  at  all  ? 

If  not,  shall  I  tell  you  how  it  may  ?  If  you  have  fol¬ 
lowed  me  through  all  the  previous  chapters  in  this 
book,  you  will  surely  now  be  ready  to  take  the  definite 
step  of  faith,  which  will  lead  your  soul  out  of  self  and 
into  Christ,  and  you  will  be  prepared  to  abide  in  Him 
forever,  and  to  know  no  life  but  His. 

All  you  need,  therefore,  is  to  understand  what  the 
Scriptures  teach  about  this  marvelous  union,  that  you 
may  be  sure  it  is  really  intended  for  you. 

If  you  read  such  passages  as  i  Cor.  iii.  16.  “Know 
ye  not  that  je  are  the  temple  of  God,  and  that  the 
Spirit  of  God  dwelleth  in  you,”  and  then  look  at  the 
opening  of  the  chapter  and  see  to  whom  these  wonder¬ 
ful  words  are  spoken,  even  to  “  babes  in  Christ”  who 
were  “yet  carnal,”  and  walked  accordingto  men,  you 
will  see  that  this  soul-union  of  which  I  speak,  this 
unspeakably  glorious  mystery  of  an  indwelling  God, 
is  the  posession  of  even  the  weakest  and  most  failing 
believer  in  Christ ;  so  that  it  is  not  a  new  thing  you 
are  to  ask  for,  but  only  to  realize  that  which  you 
already  have.  Of  every  believer  in  the  Lord  Jesus  it 
is  absolutely  true,  that  his  “body  is  the  temple  of  the 
Holy  Ghost,  which  is  in  him,  which  he  has  of  God.” 


222 


SECRET  OF  A  HAPPY  LIFE. 


But  although  this  is  true,  it  is  also  equally  true  that 
unless  the  believer  knows  it,  and  lives  in  the  power  of 
it,  it  is  to  him  as  though  it  were  not.  Like  the  treas¬ 
ures  under  a  man’s  field,  which  existed  there  before 
they  were  known  or  used  by  him,  so  does  the  life  of 
Christ  dwell  in  each  believer  as  reall}^  before  he 
knows  it  and  lives  in  it  as  it  does  afterward  ;  although 
its  power  is  not  manifested  until,  intelligently  and 
voluntarily,  the  believer  ceases  from  his  own  life,  and 
accepts  Christ’s  life  in  its  place. 

But  it  is  very  important  not  to  make  any  mistakes 
here.  This  union  with  Christ  is  not  a  matter  of 
emotions,  but  of  character.  It  is  not  something  we 
are  to  feel,  but  something  we  are  to  be.  We  may  feel 
it  very  blessedly,  and  probably  shall ;  but  the  vital 
thing  is  not  the  feeling,  but  the  reality. 

No  one  can  be  one  with  Christ  who  is  not  Christ- 
like.  This  is  a  manifest  truth ;  yet  I  fear  it.  is  often 
too  much  overlooked,  and  very  strong  emotions  of 
love  and  joy  are  taken  as  signs  and  proofs  of  Divine 
union,  in  cases  where  the  absolutely  essential  proofs 
of  a  Christlike  life  and  character  are  conspicuously 
wanting.  This  is  entirely  contrary  to  the  Scripture 
declaration  that  “he  that  saith  he  abideth  in  Him 
ought  himself  also  to  walk,  even  as  He  walked.” 
There  is  no  escape  from  this,  for  it  is  not  only  a 
Divine  declaration,  but  is  in  the  very  nature  of  things 
as  well. 

We  speak  of  being  one  with  a  friend,  and  we  mean 
that  we  have  a  union  of  purposes  and  thoughts  and 
desires.  No  matter  how  enthusiastic  our  friends  may 
be  in  their  expressions  of  love  and  unity,  there  can  be 
no  real  oneness  between  us  unless  there  are,  at  least 


DIVINE  UNION. 


223 


in  some  degree,  the  same  likes  and  dislikes,  the  same 
thoughts  and  purposes  and  ideals.  Oneness  with  Christ 
means  being  made  a  “  partaker  of  His  nature,”  as  well 
as  of  His  life ;  for  nature  and  life  are,  of  course,  one. 

If  we  are  really  one  with  Christ,  therefore,  it  will  not 
be  contrary  to  our  nature  to  beChristlikeand  to  walk 
as  He  walked,  but  it  will  be  in  accordance  with 
our  nature.  Sweetness,  gentleness,  meekness,  pa¬ 
tience,  long-suffering,  eharit}'-,  kindness,  will  all  be 
natural  to  the  Christian,  who  is  a  partaker  of  the 
nature  of  Christ.  It  could  not  be  otherwise. 

But  people  who  live  in  their  emotions  do  not  always 
see  this.  They  feel  so  at  one  with  Christ  that  they 
look  no  farther  than  this  feeling,  and  often  delude 
themselves  with  thinking  they  have  come  into  the 
Divine  union,  when  all  the  while  their  nature  and 
dispositions  are  still  under  the  sway  of  self-love. 

Now,  we  all  know  that  our  emotions  are  most  un¬ 
trustworthy,  and  are  largely  the  result  of  our  physical 
condition  or  our  natural  temperaments.  It  is  a  fatal 
mistake,  therefore,  to  make  them  the  test  of  our  one¬ 
ness  with  Christ.  This  mistake  works  both  ways. 
If  I  have  very  joyous  emotions,  I  may  be  deluded  by 
thinking  I  have  entered  into  the  Divine  union  when 
I  have  not;  and  if  I  have  no  emotions,  I  may  grieve 
over  my  failure  to  enter,  when  1  really  have  entered. 

Character  is  the  only  real  test.  God  is  holy  and 
those  who  are  one  with  Him  will  be  holv  also.  Our 
Lord  Himself  expressed  His  oneness  with  the  Father 
in  such  words  as  these:  “The  Son  can  do  nothing  of 
Himself,  but  what  he  Seeth  the  Father  do :  for  what 
things  soever  He  doeth,  these  also  doeth  the  Son 
likewise.”  “If  I  do  not  the  works  of  my  Father, 


224 


SECRET  OF  A  HAPPY  LIFE. 


believe  me  not.  But  if  I  do,  though  ye  believe  not 
me,  believe  the  works;  that  ye  may  know,  and  believe, 
that  the  Father  is  in  me,  and  I  in  Him.” 

The  test  Christ  gave,  then,  by  which  the  reality  of 
His  oneness  with  the  Father  was  to  be  known,  was 
the  fact  that  He  did  the  works  of  the  Father;  and  I 
know  no  other  test  for  us  now. 

It  is  forever  true  in  the  nature  of  things  that  a  tree 
is  to  be  known  1:^  its  fruits;  and  if  we  have  entered 
into  the  Divine  union  we  shall  bear  the  Divine  fruits 
of  a  Christlike  life  and  conversation:  for  ‘‘he  that 
saith,  I  know  Him,  and  keepeth  not  His  command¬ 
ments,  is  a  liar,  and  the  truth  is  not  in  him.  But 
whoso  keepeth  His  word,  in  him  verily  is  the  love  of 
God  perfected:  hereby  know  we  that  we  are  in  Him.” 

“  Hereby  know  we ;  ”  that  is,  by  the  “keeping  of  His 
word.”  Pay  no  regard  to  your  feelings,  therefore,  in 
this  matter  of  oneness  with  Christ,  but  see  to  it  that 
you  have  the  really  vital  fruits  of  a  oneness  in  char¬ 
acter  and  walk  and  mind.  Your  emotions  may  be 
very  delightful,  or  they  may  be  very  depressing.  In 
neither  case  are  they  any  real  indications  of  your 
spiritual  state.  Very  undeveloped  Christians  often 
have  very  powerful  emotional  experiences.  I  knew 
one  who  was  kept  awake  often  by  the  “waves  of  sal¬ 
vation,”  as  she  expressed  it,  which  swept  over  her  all 
night  long,  but  who  yet  did  not  tell  the  truth  in  her 
intercourse  with  others,  and  was  very  far  from  honest 
in  her  business  dealings.  No  one  could  possibly  believe 
that  she  knew  anything  about  a  real  Divine  union,  in 
spite  of  all  her  fervent  emotions  in  regard  to  it. 

Your  joy  in  the  Lord  is  to  be  a  far  deeper  thing  than 
a  mere  emotion.  It  is  to  be  the  joy  of  knowledge,  of 


DIVINE  UNION . 


225 


perception,  of  actual  existence.  It  is  a  far  gladder 
thing  to  be  a  bird,  with  all  the  actual  realities  of  flying, 
than  only  to  feel  as  if  you  were  a  bird,  with  no  actual 
power  of  flying  at  all.  Reality  is  always  the  vital 
thing. 

But  now,  having  guarded  against  this  danger  of  an 
emotional  experience  of  Divine  union,  let  us  consider 
how  the  reality  is  to  be  reached.  And  first  I  would  say 
that  it  is  not  a  new  attitude  to  be  taken  by  God,  but 
only  a  new  attitude  to  be  taken  by  us.  If  I  am  really 
a  child  of  God,  then  of  necessity  my  heart  is  already 
the  temple  of  God,  and  Christ  is  already  within  me. 
What  is  needed,  therefore,  is  only  that  I  shall  recog¬ 
nize  His  presence,  and  yield  fully  to  His  control. 

It  seems  to  me  just  in  this  way.  As  though  Christ 
were  living  in  a  house,  shut  up  in  a  far-off  closet,  un¬ 
known  and  unnoticed  by  the  dwellers  in  the  house, 
longing  to  make  Himself  known  to  them,  and  to  be  one 
with  them  in  all  their  daily  lives,  and  share  in  all  their 
interests,  but  unwilling  to  force  Himself  upon  their  no¬ 
tice,  because  nothing  but  a  voluntary  companionship 
could  meet  or  satisfy  the  needs  of  His  love.  The  days 
pass  by  over  that  favored  household,  and  they  re¬ 
main  in  ignorance  of  their  marvelous  privilege.  They 
come  and  go  about  all  their  daily  affairs,  with  no 
thought  of  their  wonderful  Guest.  Their  plans  are 
laid  without  reference  to  Him.  His  wisdom  to  guide, 
and  His  strength  to  protect  are  all  lost  to  them. 
Lonely  days  and  weeks  are  spent  in  sadness,  which 
might  have  been  full  of  the  sweetness  of  His  presence. 

But  suddenly  the  announcement  is  made,  “The  Lord 
is  in  the  house!  ”  How  will  its  owner  receive  the  in¬ 
telligence?  Will  he  call  out  an  eager  thanksgiving, 


226 


SECRET  OF  A  HAPPY  LIFE. 


and  throw  wide  open  every  door  for  the  entrance  of 
his  glorious  Guest  ?  Or  will  he  shrink  and  hesitate, 
afraid  of  His  presence,  and  seek  to  reserve  some  private 
corner  for  a  refuge  from  His  all-seeing  eye  ? 

Dear  friend,  I  make  the  glad  announcement  to  thee 
that  the  Lord  is  in  thy  heart.  Since  the  day  of  thy 
conversion  He  has  been  dwelling  there,  but  thou  hast 
lived  on  in  ignorance  of  it.  Every  moment  during  all 
that  time  might  have  been  passed  in  the  sunshine  of 
His  sweet  presence,  and  every  step  have  been  taken 
under  His  advice.  But  because  thou  knew  it  not,  and 
did  not  look  for  Him  there,  thy  life  has  been  lonely  and 
full  of  failure.  But  now  that  I  make  the  announce¬ 
ment  to  thee,  how  wilt  thou  receive  it  ?  Art  thou  glad 
to  have  Him  ?  Wilt  thou  throw  wide  open  every  door 
to  welcome  Him  in  ?  Wilt  thou  joyfully  and  thank¬ 
fully  give  up  the  government  of  thy  life  into  His  hands? 
Wilt  thou  consult  Him  about  everything,  and  let  Him 
decide  each  step  for  thee,  and  mark  out  every  path  ? 
Wilt  thou  invite  Him  into  thy  innermost  chambers, 
and  make  Him  the  sharer  in  thy  most  hidden  life? 
Wilt  thou  say  “Yes”  to  all  His  longing  for  union  with 
thee,  and  with  a  glad  and  eager  abandonment  hand 
thyself  and  all  that  concerns  thee  over  into  His  hands  ? 
If  thou  wilt,  then  shall  thy  soul  begin  to  know  some¬ 
thing  of  the  joy  of  union  with  Christ. 

But  words  fail  me  here !  All  that  I  can  say  is  but  a 
faint  picture  of  the  blessed  reality.  For  far  more  glor¬ 
ious  than  it  would  be  to  have  Christ  a  dweller  in  the 
house  or  in  the  heart,  is  it  to  be  brought  into  such  a 
real  and  actual  union  with  Him  as  to  be  one  with  Him, 
—  one  will,  one  purpose,  one  interest,  one  life.  Human 
words  cannot  express  such  a  glory  as  this.  And  yet  it 


DIVINE  UNION. 


227 


ought  to  be  expressed,  and  our  souls  ought  to  be  made 
so  unutterably  hungry  to  realize  it,  that  day  or  night 
we  shall  not  be  able  to  rest  without  it.  Do  you  under¬ 
stand  the  words  “one  with  Christ”?  Do  you  catch 
the  slightest  glimpse  of  their  marvelous  meaning? 
Does  not  your  whole  soul  begin  to  exult  over  such  a 
wondrous  destiny?  It  seems  too  wonderful  to  be  true 
that  such  poor,  weak,  foolish  beings  as  we  are  should 
be  created  for  such  an  end  as  this  ;  and  3^et  it  is  a  bless¬ 
ed  reality.  We  are  even  commanded  to  enter  into  it. 
We  are  exhorted  to  laydown  our  own  life  that  His  life 
may  be  lived  in  us ;  we  are  asked  to  have  no  interests 
but  His  interests,  to  share  His  riches,  to  enter  into  His 
joys,  to  partake  of  His  sorrows,  to  manifest  His  like¬ 
ness,  to  have  the  same  mind  as  He  had,  to  think  and 
feel  and  act  and  walk  as  He  did. 

Shall  we  consent  to  all  this?  The  Lord  will  not 
force  it  on  us,  for  He  wants  us  as  His  companions  and 
His  friends,  and  a  forced  union  would  be  incompatible 
with  this.  It  must  be  voluntary  on  our  part.  The 
bride  must  say  a  willing  “Yes”  to  the  bridegroom,  or 
the  joy  of  their  union  is  wanting.  Can  we  not  say  a 
willing  “Yes ”  to  our  Lord  ? 

It  is  a  very  simple  transaction,  and  yet  very  real. 
The  steps  are  but  three:  first,  we  must  be  convinced 
that  the  Scriptures  teach  this  glorious  indwelling  of 
God;  then  we  must  surrender  our  whole  selves  to 
Him  to  be  possessed  by  Him  ;  and  finally,  we  must  be¬ 
lieve  that  He  has  taken  possession,  and  is  dwelling  in 
us.  We  must  begin  to  reckon  ourselves  dead,  and  to 
reckon  Christ  as  our  only  life.  We  must  maintain 
this  attitude  of  soul  unwaveringly.  It  will  help  us  to 
say,  “I  am  crucified  with  Christ:  nevertheless  I  live* 


228 


SECRET  OF  A  HAPPY  LIFE. 


yet  not  I,  but  Christ  liveth  in  me,”  over  and  over,  day 
and  night,  until  it  becomes  the  habitual  breathing  of 
our  souls.  We  must  put  off  our  self-life  by  faith  con¬ 
tinual^,  and  put  on  the  life  of  Christ;  and  we  must 
do  this,  not  only  b}r  faith,  but  practically  as  well.  We 
must  continually  put  self  to  death  in  all  the  details 
of  daily  life,  and  must  let  Christ  instead  live  and  work 
in  us.  I  mean  we  must  never  do  the  selfish  thing,  but 
always  the  Christlike  thing.  We  must  let  this  become, 
by  its  constant  repetition,  the  attitude  of  our  whole 
being.  And  as  surely  as  we  do,  we  shall  come  at  last 
to  understand  something  of  what  it  means  to  be  made 
one  with  Christ  as  He  and  the  Father  are  one.  Christ 
left  all  to  be  joined  to  us;  shall  we  not  also  leave  all 
to  be  joined  to  Him,  in  this  Divine  union  which  trans¬ 
cends  words,  but  for  which  our  Lord  prayed  when  He 
said,  “Neither  pray  I  for  these  alone,  but  for  them  also 
which  shall  believe  on  me  through  their  word ;  that 
they  all  may  be  one;  as  thou,  Father, art  in  me,  and  I 
in  thee,  that  they  also  may  be  one  in  us  n  ? 


THE  CHARIOTS  OF  GOD. 


229 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

THE  CHARIOTS  OF  GOD. 

IT  has  been  well  said  that  “earthly  cares  are  a 
heavenly  discipline;  ”  but  they  are  even  something 
better  than  discipline, —  they  are  God’s  chariots,  sent 
to  take  the  soul  to  its  high  places  of  triumph. 

They  do  not  look  like  chariots.  They  look  instead 
like  enemies,  sufferings,  trials,  defeats,  misunderstand¬ 
ings,  disappointments,  unkindnesses.  They  look  like 
Juggernaut  cars  of  misery  and  wretchedness,  which 
are  only  waiting  to  roll  over  us  and  crush  us  into  the 
earth.  But  could  we  see  them  as  they  really  are,  we 
should  recognize  them  as  chariots  of  triumph  in  which 
we  may  ride  to  those  very  heights  of  victory  for  which 
our  souls  have  been  longing  and  praying.  The  Jug¬ 
gernaut  car  is  the  visible  thing;  the  chariot  of  God  is 
the  invisible.  The  King  of  Sj^ria  came  up  against  the 
man  of  God  with  horses  and  chariots  that  could  be 
seen  by  every  eye,  but  God  had  chariots  that  could 
be  seen  by  none  save  the  eye  of  faith.  The  servant 
of  the  Prophet  could  only  see  the  outward  and  visi¬ 
ble;  and  he  cried,  as  so  many  have  done  since,  “Alas, 
my  Master!  how  shall  we  do?”  But  the  Prophet 
himself  sat  calmly  within  his  house  without  fear,  be¬ 
cause  his  eyes  were  opened  to  see  the  invisible;  and  all 


f 


230  SECRET  OF  A  HAPPY  LIFE. 


he  asked  for  his  servant  was,  “  Lord,  I  pray  thee  open 
his  eyes  that  he  may  see.” 

This  is  the  prayer  we  need  to  pray  for  ourselves  and 
for  one  another,  “Lord,  open  our  eyes  that  we  may 
see;”  for  the  world  all  around  us,  as  well  as  around 
the  Prophet,  is  full  of  God’s  horses  and  chariots,  wait¬ 
ing  to  carry  us  to  places  of  glorious  victory.  And 
when  our  eyes  are  thus  opened,  we  shall  see  in  all  the 
events  of  life,  whether  great  or  small,  whether  joyful 
or  sad,  a  “chariot  ”  for  our  souls. 

Everything  that  comes  to  us  becomes  a  chariot  the 
moment  we  treat  it  as  such;  and  on  the  other  hand, 
even  the  smallest  trials  may  be  a  Juggernaut  car  to 
crush  us  into  misery  or  despair  if  we  so  consider  them. 
It  lies  with  each  of  us  to  choose  which  they  shall  be. 
It  all  depends,  not  upon  what  these  events  are,  but 
upon  how  we  take  them.  If  we  lie  down  under  them 
and  let  them  roll  over  us  and  crush  us,  they  become 
Juggernaut  cars,  but  if  we  climb  up  into  them,  as  into 
a  car  of  victory,  and  make  them  carry  us  triumphant¬ 
ly  onward  and  upward,  they  become  the  chariots  of 
God. 

Whenever  we  mount  into  God’s  chariots  the  same 
thing  happens  to  us  spiritually  that  happened  to  Elijah. 
We  shall  have  a  translation.  Not  into  the  heavens 
above  us,  as  Elijah  did, but  into  the  heaven  within  us; 
and  this,  after  all,  is  almost  a  grander  translation  than 
his.  We  shall  be  carried  away  from  the  low,  earthly, 
grovelling  plane  of  life,  where  everything  hurts  and 
everything  is  unhapp\^,  up  into  the  “heavenly  places 
in  Christ  Jesus,”  where  we  can  ride  in  triumph  over 
all  below. 

These  “heavenly  places”  are  interior,  not  exterior; 


THE  CHARIOTS  OF  GOD. 


231 


and  the  road  that  leads  to  them  is  interior  also.  But 
the  chariot  that  carries  the  soul  over  this  road  is  gen¬ 
erally  some  outward  loss  or  trial  or  disappointment; 
some  chastening  that  does  not  indeed  seem  for  the 
present  to  be  joyous,  but  grievous;  but  that  neverthe¬ 
less  afterward  “yieldetli  the  peaceable  fruits  of  right' 
eousness  to  them  that  are  exercised  thereby.” 

In  the  Canticles  we  are  told  of ‘‘chariots  paved  with 
love.”  We  cannot  always  see  the  love-lining  to  our 
own  particular  chariot.  It  often  looks  veryunlovely. 
It  may  be  a  cross-grained  relative  or  friend ;  it  maybe 
the  result  of  human  malice  or  cruelty  or  neglect;  but 
every  chariot  sent  by  God  must  necessarily  be  paved 
with  love,  since  God  is  love;  and  God’s  love  is  the 
sweetest,  softest,  tenderest  thing  to  rest  one’s  self 
upon  that  was  ever  found  by  any  soul  anywhere.  It 
is  His  love,  indeed,  that  sends  the  chariot. 

Look  upon  your  chastenings  then,  no  matter  how 
grievous  they  may  be  for  the  present,  as  God’s  char¬ 
iots  sent  to  carry  }rour  souls  into  the  ‘‘high  places”  of 
spiritual  achievement  and  uplifting,  and  you  will  find 
that  they  are,  after  all,  ‘‘paved  with  love.” 

The  Bible  tells  us  that  when  God  went  forth  for  the 
salvation  of  His  people,  then  He  “  did  ride  upon  His 
horses  and  chariots  of  salvation ;  ”  and  it  is  the  same 
now.  Everything  becomes  a  “chariot  of  salvation” 
when  God  rides  upon  it.  He  maketh  even  the  “clouds 
His  chariot,”  we  are  told,  and  “rideth  on  the  wings 
of  the  wind.”  Therefore  the  clouds  and  storms  that 
darken  our  skies  and  seem  to  shut  out  the  shining  of  the 
sun  of  righteousness  are  really  only  God’s  chariots,  into 
which  we  may  mount  with  Him,  and  “ride  prosper¬ 
ously”  over  all  the  darkness.  Dear  reader,  have  you 


232 


SECRET  OF  A  HAPPY  LIFE. 


made  the  clouds  in  your  life  your  chariots  ?  Are  you 
“  riding  prosperously  ”  with  God  on  top  of  them  all  ? 

I  knew  a  lady  who  had  a  very  slow  servant.  She 
was  an  excellent  girl  in  every  other  respect,  and  very 
valuable  in  the  household;  but  her  slowness  was  a 
constant  source  of  irritation  to  her  mistress,  who  was 
naturally  quick,  and  who  always  chafed  at  slowness. 
This  lady  would  consequently  get  out  of  temper  with 
the  girl  twenty  times  a  day,  and  twenty  times  a  day 
would  repent  of  her  anger  and  resolve  to  conquer  it, 
but  in  vain.  Her  life  was  made  miserable  by  the  con¬ 
flict.  One  day  it  occurred  to  her  that  she  had  for  a 
long  while  been  praying  for  patience,  and  that  perhaps 
this  slow  servant  was  the  very  chariot  the  Lord  had 
sent  to  carry  her  soul  over  into  patience.  She  im¬ 
mediately  accepted  it  as  such,  and  from  that  time 
used  the  slowness  of  her  servant  as  a  chariot  for 
her  soul ;  and  the  result  was  a  victory  of  patience 
that  no  slowness  of  anybody  was  ever  after  able  to 
disturb. 

I  knew  another  lady,  at  a  crowded  convention, 
who  was  put  to  sleep  in  a  room  with  two  others,  on 
account  of  the  crowd.  She  wanted  to  sleep,  but 
they  wanted  to  talk ;  and  the  first  night  she  was 
greatly  disturbed,  and  lay  there  fretting  and  fuming, 
long  after  the  others  had  hushed,  and  she  might  have 
slept.  But  the  next  day  she  heard  something  about 
God’s  chariots,  and  at  night  she  accepted  these  talk¬ 
ing  friends  as  her  chariots  to  carry  her  over  into 
sweetness  and  patience,  and  was  kept  in  undisturbed 
calm.  When,  however,  it  grew  very  late,  and  she 
knew  they  all  ought  to  be  sleeping,  she  ventured  to 
say  slyly,  “Friends,  I  am  lying  here  riding  in  a  char- 


THE  CHARIOTS  OF  GOD. 


233 


iot!”  The  effect  was  instantaneous,  and  perfect 
quiet  reigned!  Her  chariot  had  carried  her  over  to 
victory,  not  only  inwardly,  but  at  last  outwardly  as 
well. 

If  we  would  ride  in  God’s  chariots,  instead  of  our 
own,  we  should  find  this  to  be  the  case  continually. 

Our  constant  temptation  is  to  trust  in  the  “chariots 
of  Egypt,”  or,  in  other  words,  in  earthly  resources. 
We  can  see  them;  they  are  tangible  and  real,  and 
look  substantial;  while  God’s  chariots  are  invisible 
and  intangible,  and  it  is  hard  to  believe  they  are 
there. 

We  try  to  reach  high  spiritual  places  with  the 
“multitude  of  our  chariots.”  We  depend  first  on  one 
thing  and  then  on  another  to  advance  our  spiritual 
condition,  and  to  gain  our  spiritual  victories.  We 
“go  down  to  Egypt  for  help.”  And  God  is  obliged 
often  to  destroy  all  our  own  earthly  chariots,  before 
He  can  bring  us  to  the  point  of  mounting  into  His. 

We  lean  too  much  upon  a  dear  friend  to  help  us 
onward  in  the  spiritual  life,  and  the  Lord  is  obliged  to 
separate  us  from  that  friend.  We  feel  that  all  our 
spiritual  prosperity  depends  on  our  continuance  under 
the  ministry  of  a  favorite  preacher,  and  he  is  mys¬ 
teriously  removed.  We  look  upon  our  praver-meet- 
ing  or  our  Bible-class  as  the  chief  source  of  our 
spiritual  strength,  and  we  are  shut  up  from  attending 
them.  And  the  “chariot  of  God”  which  alone  can 
carry  us  to  the  places  where  we  hoped  to  be  taken 
by  the  instrumentalities  upon  which  we  have  been 
depending,  is  to  be  found  in  the  very  deprivations 
we  have  so  mourned  over.  God  must  burn  up  with 
the  fire  of  His  love  every  chariot  of  our  own  that 


234 


SECRET  OF  A  HAPPY  LIFE. 


stands  in  the  way  of  our  mounting  into  His. 

We  have  to  be  brought  to  the  place  where  all 
other  refuges  fail  us,  before  we  can  say  “He  only.” 
We  say,  “He  and — something  else,”  “He  and 
my  experience,”  or  “He  and  my  church  relation¬ 
ships,”  or  “He  and  my  Christian  work;”  and  all 
that  comes  after  the  “and  ”  must  be  taken  awa\rfrom 
us,  or  must  be  proved  useless,  before  we  can  come 
to  the  “  He  only.”  As  long  as  visible  chariots  are 
at  hand  the  soul  will  not  mount  into  the  invisible 
ones. 

Let  us  be  thankful,  then,  for  every  trial  that  will  help 
to  destroy  our  earthly  chariots,  and  that  will  compel 
us  to  take  refuge  in  the  chariot  of  God  which  stands 
ready  and  waiting  beside  us  in  every  event  and  cir¬ 
cumstance  of  life.  We  are  told  that  “God  rideth 
upon  the  heavens; ’’and  if  we  would  ride  with  Him 
there,  we  need  to  be  brought  to  the  end  of  all  riding 
upon  the  earth. 

When  we  mount  into  God’s  chariot  our  goings  are 
“established,  ”  for  no  obstacles  can  hinder  His  trium¬ 
phal  course.  All  losses,  therefore,  are  gains  that  bring 
us  to  this.  Paul  understood  this,  and  he  gloried  in 
the  losses  which  brought  him  such  unspeakable  re¬ 
wards.  “  But  what  things  were  gain  to  me,  those  I 
counted  loss  for  Christ.  Yea  doubtless,  and  I  count 
all  things  but  loss  for  the  excellency  of  the  knowl¬ 
edge  of  Christ  Jesus  my  Lord  :  for  whom  I  have  suf¬ 
fered  the  loss  of  all  things,  and  do  count  them  but 
dung,  that  I  may  win  Christ,  and  be  found  in  Him.  ” 

Even  the  “thorn  in  the  flesh,”  the  messenger  of 
Satan  sent  to  buffet  him,  became  a  “chariot  of  God  ” 
tc  his  willing  soul,  and  carried  him  to  the  heights  of 


THE  CHARIOTS  OF  GOD. 


235 


triumph,  which  he  could  have  reached  in  no  other 
way.  To  “take  pleasure”  in  one’s  trials,  what  is  this 
but  to  turn  them  into  the  grandest  of  chariots  ? 

Joseph  had  a  revelation  of  his  future  triumphs  and 
reigning,  but  the  chariots  that  carried  him  there  looked 
to  the  eye  of  sense  like  dreadful  Juggernaut  cars  of 
failure  and  defeat.  Slavery  and  imprisonment  are 
strange  chariots  to  take  one  to  a  kingdom,  and  yet 
by  no  other  way  could  Joseph  have  reached  his  exalta¬ 
tion.  And  our  exaltat  on  to  the  spiritual  throne  that 
awaits  us  is  often  reached  by  similar  chariots. 

The  great  point,  then,  is  to  have  our  eyes  opened 
to  see  in  everything  that  comes  to  us  a  “chariot  of 
God,”  and  to  learn  how  to  mount  into  these  chariots. 
We  must  recognize  each  thing  that  comes  to  us,  as 
being  really  God’s  chariot  for  us,  and  must  accept  it 
as  from  Him.  He  does  not  command  or  originate  the 
thing,  perhaps;  but  the  moment  we  put  it  into  His 
hands,  it  becomes  His,  and  he  at  once  turns  it  into  a 
chariot  for  us.  He  makes  all  things,  even  bad  things, 
work  together  for  good  to  all  those  who  trust  Him. 
All  He  needs  is  to  have  it  entirely  committed  to  Him. 

When  j^our  trial  comes,  then,  put  it  right  into  the 
will  of  God,  and  climb  into  that  will  as  a  little  child 
climbs  into  its  mother’s  arms.  The  baby  carried  in 
the  chariot  of  its  mother’s  arms  rides  triumphantly 
through  the  hardest  places,  and  does  not  even  know 
they  are  hard.  And  how  much  more  we,  who  are 
carried  in  the  chariot  of  the  “  arms  of  God  !” 

Get  into  your  chariot,  then.  Take  each  thing  that 
is  wrong  in  \^our  lives  as  God’s  chariot  for  you.  No 
matter  who  the  builder  of  the  wrong  may  be,  whether 
men  or  devils,  by  the  time  it  reaches  your  side  it  is 


236 


SECRET  OF  A  HAPPY  LIFE. 


God’s  chariot  for  you,  and  is  meant  to  carry  you  to 
a  heavenly  place  of  triumph.  Shut  out  all  the  second 
causes,  and  find  the  Lord  in  it.  Say,  “Lord,  open  my 
eyes  that  I  may  see,  not  the  visible  enemy,  but  thy 
unseen  chariots  of  deliverance.” 

No  doubt  the  enemy  will  try  to  turn  your  chariot 
into  a  Juggernaut  car  by  taunting  you  with  the  sug¬ 
gestion  that  God  is  not  in  your  trouble,  and  that  there 
is  no  help  for  you  in  Him,  But  you  must  utterly  dis¬ 
regard  all  such  suggestions,  and  must  overcome  them 
with  the  assertion  of  a  confident  faith.  “  God  is  my 
refuge  and  strength,  a  very  present  help  in  time  of 
trouble,”  must  be  3^our  continual  declaration,  no  mat¬ 
ter  what  the  seemings  may  be. 

Moreover,  you  must  not  be  half-hearted  about  it. 
You  must  climb  wholly  into  your  chariot,  not  with 
one  foot  dragging  on  the  ground.  There  must  be  no 
“ifs,”  or  “buts,”  or  “  supposings,”  or  “  questionings.” 
You  must  accept  God’s  will  fully,  and  must  hide  your¬ 
self  in  the  arms  of  His  love,  that  are  always  under¬ 
neath  to  receive  you,  in  every  circumstance  and  at 
every  moment.  Say,  “Thy  will  be  done;  Thy  will  be 
done,”  over  and  over.  Shut  out  every  other  thought 
but  the  one  thought  of  submission  to  His  will  and 


of  trust  in  His  love.  There  can  be  no  trials  in  which 
God’s  will  has  not  a  place  somewhere;  and  the  soul 
has  only  to  mount  into  His  will  as  in  a  chariot,  and  it 
will  find  itself  “riding  upon  the  heavens”  with  God, 
in  a  way  it  had  never  dreamed  could  be. 

The  soul  that  thus  rides  with  God  “on  the  sky” 
has  views  and  sights  of  things  that  the  soul  which 
grovels  on  the  earth  can  never  have.  The  poor 
crushed  and  bleeding  victim  under  the  car  of  Jugger- 


THE  CHARIOTS  OF  GOD. 


237 


naut  can  see  only  the  dust  and  stones  and  the  grind¬ 
ing  wheels,  but  the  triumphant  rider  in  the  chariot 
sees  far  fairer  sights. 

Do  any  of  you  ask  where  your  chariots  are  to  be 
found?  The  Psalmist  says,  “The  chariots  of  God  are 
twenty  thousand,  even  thousands  of  angels.”  There 
is  never  in  any  life  a  lack  of  chariots.  One  dear 
Christian  said  to  me,  at  the  close  of  a  meeting  where 
1  had  been  speaking  about  these  chariots:  “I  am  a 
poor  woman,  and  have  all  my  life  long  grieved  that  I 
could  not  drive  in  a  carriage,  like  some  of  my  rich 
neighbors.  But  I  have  been  looking  over  my  life 
while  you  have  been  talking,  and  I  find  that  it  is  so 
full  of  chariots  on  every  side  that  I  am  sure  I  shall 
never  need  to  walk  again.” 

I  have  not  a  shadow  of  doubt,  dear  readers,  that  if 
all  our  eyes  could  be  opened  to-day  we  should  see  our 
homes,  and  our  places  of  business,  and  the  streets  we 
traverse  filled  with  the  “chariots  of  God.”  There  is 
no  need  for  any  one  of  us  to  walk  for  lack  of  chariots. 
That  cross  inmate  of  your  household,  who  has  hitherto 
made  life  a  burden  to  you,  and  who  has  been  the 
Juggernaut  car  to  crush  your  soul  into  the  dust,  may 
henceforth  be  a  glorious  chariot  to  carry  you  to  the 
heights  of  heavenly  patience  and  long-suffering.  That 
misunderstanding,  that  mortification,  that  unkind¬ 
ness,  that  disappointment,  that  loss,  that  defeat, —  all 
these  are  chariots  waiting  to  carry  you  to  the  very 
heights  of  victory  you  have  so  longed  to  reach. 

Mount  into  them  then,  with  thankful  hearts,  and  lose 
sight  of  all  second  causes  in  the  shining  of  His  love, 
who  will  “carry  you  in  His  arms”  safely  and  triumph¬ 
antly  over  it  all. 


238 


SECRET  OF  A  HAPPY  LIFE. 


CHAPTER  XX. 

THE  LIFE  ON  WINGS. 

THIS  life  hid  with  Christ  in  God  has  many  aspects* 
and  can  be  considered  under  a  great  many  differ¬ 
ent  figures.  There  is  one  aspect  which  has  been 
a  great  help  and  inspiration  to  me,  and  I  think  may 
be  also  to  some  other  longing  and  hungry  souls.  It 
is  what  I  call  the  life  on  wings. 

Our  Lord  has  not  only  told  us  to  consider  the 
“flowers  of  the  field,1’  but  also  the  “birds  of  the  air ;  ” 
and  I  have  found  that  these  little  winged  creatures 
have  some  wonderful  lessons  for  us.  In  one  of  the 
Psalms,  the  Psalmist,  after  enumerating  the  darkness 
and  bitterness  of  his  life  in  this  earthly  sphere  of  trial, 
cries  out,  “Oh  that  I  had  wings  like  a  dove!  for  then 
would  I  fly  away,  and  be  at  rest.  Lo,  then  would  I 
wander  far  off,  and  remain  in  the  wilderness.  I  would 
hasten  my  escape  from  the  windy  storm  and  tempest” 
(Ps.  lv.  6-8). 

This  cry  for  “wings”  is  as  old  as  humanity.  Our 
souls  were  made  to  “mount  up  with  wings,”  and  they 
can  never  be  satisfied  with  anything  short  of  flying. 
Like  the  captive-born  eagle  that  feels  within  it 
the  instinct  of  flight,  and  chafes  and  frets  at  its 
imprisonment,  hardly  knowing  what  it  longs  for,  so 
do  our  souls  chafe  and  fret,  and  cry  out  for  freedom. 
We  can  never  rest  on  earth,  and  we  long  to  “  fly  away” 


THE  LIFE  ON  WINGS. 


239 


from  all  that  so  holds  and  hampers  and  imprisons  us 
here. 

This  restlessness  and  discontent  develop  themselves 
generally  in  seeking  an  outward  escape  from  our  cir¬ 
cumstances  or  from  our  miseries.  We  do  not  at  first 
recognize  the  fact  that  our  only  way  of  escape  is  to 
“mount  up  with  wings,”  and  we  try  to  “flee  on 
horses,”  as  the  Israelites  did,  when  oppressed  by  their 
trials  (see  Isaiah  xxx.  16). 

Our  “horses”  are  the  outward  things  upon  which 
we  depend  for  relief,  some  change  of  circumstances,  or 
some  help  from  man ;  and  we  mount  on  these  and  run 
east  or  west,  or  north  or  south,  anywhere  to  getaway 
from  our  trouble,  thinking  in  our  ignorance  that  a 
change  of  our  environment  is  all  that  is  necessarj-  to 
give  deliverance  to  our  souls.  But  all  such  efforts  to 
escape  are  unavailing,  as  we  have  each  one  proved 
hundreds  of  times;  for  the  soul  is  not  so  made  that 
it  can  “flee  upon  horses,”  but  must  make  its  flight 
always  upon  wings. 

Moreover,  these  “iiorses”  generally  carry  us,  as 
they  did  the  Israelites,  out  of  one  trouble,  only  to 
land  us  in  another.  It  is  as  the  Prophet  says,  “As  if 
a  man  did  flee  from  a  lion,  and  a  bear  met  him;  or 
went  into  the  house,  and  leaned  his  hand  on  the  wall, 
and  a  serpent  bit  him.” 

How  often  have  we  also  run  from  some  “lion”  in 
our  pathway  only  to  be  met  by  a  “bear;”  or  have 
hidden  ourselves  in  a  place  of  supposed  safety,  only 
to  be  bitten  by  a  “serpent”!  No;  it  is  useless  for 
the  soul  to  hope  to  escape  by  running  away  from  its 
troubles  to  any  earthly  refuge,  for  there  is  not  one 
that  can  give  it  deliverance. 


240 


SECRET  OF  A  HAPPY  LIFE. 


Is  there,  then,  no  way  of  escape  for  us  when  in 
trouble  or  distress?  Must  we  just  plod  wearily 
through  it  all  and  look  for  no  relief?  I  rejoice  to 
answer  that  there  is  a  glorious  way  of  escape  for  every 
one  of  us,  if  we  will  but  mount  up  on  wings,  and  fly 
away  from  it  all  to  God.  It  is  not  a  way  east  or  west, 
or  north  or  south,  but  it  is  a  way  upwards.  “They 
that  wait  upon  the  Lord  shall  renew  their  strength ; 
they  shall  mount  up  with  wings  as  eagles ;  they  shall 
run,  and  not  be  weary;  and  they  shall  walk,  and 
not  faint.” 

All  creatures  that  have  wings  can  escape  from  every 
snare  that  is  set  for  them,  if  only  they  will  fly  high 
enough;  and  the  soul  that  uses  its  wings  can  alwa}^s 
find  a  sure  “  way  to  escape  ”  from  all  that  can  hurt  or 
trouble  it. 

What,  then,  are  these  wings?  Their  secret  is  con¬ 
tained  in  the  words,  “They  that  wait  upon  the  Lord.” 
The  soul  that  waits  upon  the  Lord  is  the  soul  that  is 
entirely  surrendered  to  Him,  and  that  trusts  Him  per¬ 
fectly.  Therefore  we  might  name  our  wings  the  wings 
of  Surrender  and  of  Trust.  I  mean  by  this,  that,  if 
we  will  only  surrender  ourselves  utterly  to  the  Lord, 
and  will  trust  Him  perfectly,  we  shall  find  our  souls 
“mounting  up  with  wings  as  eagles”  to  the  “heav¬ 
enly  places”  in  Christ  Jesus,  where  earthly  annoy¬ 
ances  or  sorrows  have  no  power  to  disturb  us. 

The  wings  of  the  soul  carry  it  up  into  a  spiritual 
plane  of  life,  into  the  “life  hid  with  Christ  in  God,” 
which  is  a  life  utterly  independent  of  circumstances, 
and  one  that  no  cage  can  imprison  and  no  shackles  bind. 

The  “things  above”  are  the  things  the  soul  on 
wings  cares  about,  not  the  “things  on  the  earth;” 


THE  LIFE  ON  WINGS. 


241 


and  it  views  life  and  all  its  experiences  from  the 
high  altitude  of  “heavenly  places  in  Christ  Jesus.” 
Things  look  very  different  according  to  the  stand¬ 
point  from  which  we  view  them.  The  caterpillar, 
as  it  creeps  along  the  ground,  must  have  a  widely 
different  “view”  of  the  world  around  it,  from  that 
which  the  same  caterpillar  will  have  when  its  wings 
are  developed,  and  it  soars  in  the  air  above  the  very 
places  where  once  it  crawled.  And  similarly  the 
crawling  soul  must  necessarily  see  things  in  a  very 
different  aspect  from  the  soul  that  has  “mounted  up 
with  wings.”  The  mountain  top  may  blaze  with  sun¬ 
shine  when  all  the  valley  below  is  shrouded  in  fogs, 
and  the  bird  whose  wings  can  carry  him  high  enough, 
may  mount  at  will  out  of  the  gloom  below  into  the  joy 
of  the  sunlight  above. 

I  was  at  one  time  spending  a  winter  in  London, 
and  during  three  long  months  we  did  not  once  see 
any  genuine  sunshine,  because  of  the  dense  clouds  of 
smoke  that  hung  over  the  city  like  a  pall.  But  many 
a  time  I  have  seen  tnat  above  the  smoke  the  sun  was 
shining,  and  once  or  twice  through  a  rift  I  have  had  a 
glimpse  of  a  bird,  with  sunshine  on  its  wings,  sailing 
above  the  fog  in  the  clear  blue  of  the  sunlit  sky. 
Not  all  the  brushes  in  London  could  sweep  away 
the  fog;  but  could  we  only  mount  high  enough,  we 
should  reach  a  region  above  it  all. 

And  this  is  what  the  soul  on  wings  does.  It  over¬ 
comes  the  world  through  faith.  To  overcome  means 
to  “come  over/’  not  to  be  crushed  under;  and  the 
soul  on  wings  flies  over  the  world  and  the  things  of 
it.  These  lose  their  power  to  hold  or  bind  the  spirit 
that  can  “come  over”  them  on  the  wings  of  Surrender 


242  SECRET  OF  A  HAPPY  LIFE. 


and  Trust.  That  spirit  is  made  in  very  truth  “more 
than  conqueror.” 

Birds  overcome  the  lower  law  of  gravitation  by  the 
higher  law  of  flight;  and  the  soul  on  wings  over¬ 
comes  the  lower  law  of  sin  and  misery  and  bondage 
by  the  higher  law  of  spiritual  flying.  The  “law  of 
the  spirit  of  life  in  Christ  Jesus”  must  necessarily 
be  a  higher  and  more  dominant  law  than  the  law  of 
sin  and  death ;  therefore  the  soul  that  has  mounted 
into  this  upper  region  of  the  life  in  Christ,  cannot 
fail  to  conquer  and  triumph. 

But  it  may  be  asked  how  it  is,  then,  that  all  Chris¬ 
tians  do  not  always  triumph.  I  answer  that  it  is 
because  a  great  many  Christians  do  not  “mount  up 
with  wings”  into  this  higher  plane  of  life  at  all. 
They  live  on  the  same  low  level  with  their  circum¬ 
stances;  and  instead  of  flying  over  them,  they  try 
to  fight  them  on  their  own  earthly  plane.  On  this 
plane  the  soul  is  powerless ;  it  has  no  weapons  with 
which  to  conquer  there;  and  instead  of  overcoming, 
or  coming  over,  the  trials  and  sorrows  of  the  earthly 
life,  it  is  overcome  by  them  and  crushed  under  them. 

We  all  know,  as  I  have  said,  that  things  look  differ¬ 
ently  to  us  according  to  our  “point  of  view.  ”  Trials 
assume  a  very  different  aspect  when  looked  down 
upon  from  above,  than  when  viewed  from  their  own 
level.  What  seems  like  an  impassable  wall  on  its  own 
level,  becomes  an  insignificant  line  to  the  eyes  that  see 
it  from  the  top  of  a  mountain;  and  the  snares  and  sor¬ 
rows  that  assume  such  immense  proportion  while  we 
look  at  them  on  the  earthly  plane,  become  insignificant 
little  motes  in  the  sunshine  when  the  soul  has  mounted 
on  wings  to  the  heavenly  places  above  them. 


THE  LIFE  ON  WINGS. 


243 


A  friend  once  illustrated  to  me  the  difference  be¬ 
tween  three  of  her  friends  in  the  following  way.  She 
said,  if  they  should  all  three  come  to  a  spiritual  moun¬ 
tain  which  had  to  be  crossed,  the  first  one  would  tun¬ 
nel  through  it  with  hard  and  wearisome  labor;  the 
second  would  meander  around  it  in  an  indefinite 
fashion,  hardly  knowing  where  she  was  going,  and 
yet,  because  her  aim  was  right,  getting  around  it  at 
last;  but  the  third,  she  said,  would  just  flap  her  wings 
and  fly  right  over.  I  think  we  must  all  know  some¬ 
thing  of  these  different  ways  of  locomotion ;  and  I 
trust,  if  any  of  us  in  the  past  have  tried  to  tunnel  our 
way  through  the  mountains  that  have  stood  across 
our  pathway,  or  have  been  meandering  around  them, 
That  we  may  from  henceforth  resolve  to  spread 
our  wings  and  “mount  up”  into  the  clear  atmos¬ 
phere  of  God’s  presence,  where  it  will  be  easy  to 
overcome,  or  come  over,  the  highest  mountain  of 
them  all. 

I  say  “spread  our  wings  and  mount  up,”  because 
not  the  largest  wings  ever  known  can  lift  a  bird  one 
inch  upward  unless  they  are  used.  We  must  use  our 
wings,  or  they  avail  us  nothing. 

It  is  not  worth  while  to  cry  out,  “Oh  that  I  had 
wings,  and  then  I  would  flee;  ’’for  we  ha^e  the  wings 
already,  and  what  is  needed  is  not  more  wings,  but  only 
that  we  should  use  those  we  have.  The  power  to  sur¬ 
render  and  trust  exists  in  every  human  soul,  and  only 
needs  to  be  brought  into  exercise.  With  these  two 
wings  we  can  “flee”  to  God  at  any  moment;  but,  in 
order  really  to  reach  Him,  we  must  actively  use  them. 
We  must  not  merely  want  to  use  them,  but  we  must 
lo  it  definitely  and  actively.  A  passive  surrender  or 


244 


SUC RET  OF  A  HAPPY  LIFE. 


a  passive  trust  will  not  do.  I  mean  this  very  prac¬ 
tically.  We  shall  not  “mount  up ’’very  high,  if  we 
only  surrender  and  trust  in  theory,  or  in  our  especially 
religious  moments.  We  must  do  it  definitely  and 
practically,  about  each  detail  of  daily  life  as  it  comes 
to  us.  We  must  meet  our  disappointments,  our 
thwartings,  our  persecutions,  our  malicious  enemies, 
our  provoking  friends,  our  trials  and  temptations  of 
every  sort,  with  an  active  and  experimental  attitude 
of  surrender  and  trust.  We  must  spread  our  wings 
and  “mount  up’’  to  the  “heavenly  places  in  Christ’’ 
above  them  all,  where  thejr  will  lose  their  power  to 
harm  or  distress  us.  For  from  these  high  places 
we  shall  see  things  through  the  eye  of  Christ,  and 
all  earth  will  be  glorified  in  the  heavenly  vision. 

“The  dove  hath  neither  claw  nor  sting, 

Nor  weapon  for  the  fight , 

She  owes  her  safety  to  the  wing, 

Her  victory  to  flight. 

The  Bridegroom  opes  His  arms  of  love, 

And  in  them  folds  the  panting  dove.” 

How  changed  our  lives  would  be  if  we  could  only 
fly  through  the  days  on  these  wings  of  surrender  and 
trust !  Instead  of  stirring  up  strife  and  bitterness  b}r 
trying,  metaphorical^,  to  knock  down  and  walk  over 
our  offending  brothers  and  sisters,  we  should  escape 
all  strife  by  simply  spreading  our  wings  and  mount¬ 
ing  up  to  the  heavenly  region,  where  our  eyes  would 
see  all  things  covered  with  a  mantle  of  Christian  love 
and  pity. 

Our  souls  were  made  to  live  in  this  upper  atmos¬ 
phere,  and  we  stifle  and  choke  on  any  lower  level 
Our  eyes  were  made  to  look  off  from  these  heav¬ 
enly  heights,  and  our  vision  is  distorted  by  any  lower 


245 


THE  LIFE  ON  WINGS. 

- - — — - - - - 

gazing.  It  is  a  great  blessing,  therefore,  that  our 
loving  Father  in  Heaven  has  mercifully  arranged  all 
the  discipline  of  our  lives  with  a  view  to  teaching  us 
to  fly. 

In  Deuteronomy  we  have  a  picture  of  how  this 
teaching  is  done :  “As  an  eagle  stirreth  up  her  nest, 
fluttereth  over  her  young,  spreadeth  abroad  her  wings, 
taketh  them,  beareth  them  on  her  wings :  so  the  Lord 
alone  did  lead  him,  and  there  was  no  strange  god 
with  him.” 

♦ 

The  mother  eagle  teaches  her  little  ones  to  fly,  by 
making  their  nest  so  uncomfortable  that  they  are 
forced  to  leave  it  and  commit  themselves  to  the  un¬ 
known  world  of  air  outside.  And  just  so  does  our 
God  to  us.  He  stirs  up  our  comfortable  nests,  and 
pushes  us  over  the  edge  of  them,  and  we  are  forced 
to  use  our  wings  to  save  ourselves  from  fatal  falling. 
Read  your  trials  in  this  light,  and  see  if  you  cannot 
begin  to  get  a  glimpse  of  their  meaning.  Your  wings 
are  being  developed. 

I  knew  a  lady  whose  life  was  one  long  strain  of 
trial,  from  a  cruel,  wicked,  drunken  husband.  There 
was  no  possibility  of  haman  help,  and  in  her  despair 
she  was  driven  to  use  her  wings  and  fly  to  God. 
And  during  the  long  years  of  trial  her  wings  grew 
so  strong  from  constant  flying,  that  at  last,  as  she 
told  me,  when  the  trials  were  at  their  hardest,  it 
seemed  to  her  as  if  her  soul  was  carried  over  them 
on  a  beautiful  rainbow,  and  found  itself  in  a  peaceful 
resting-place  on  the  other  side. 

With  this  end  in  view  we  can  surely  accept  with 
thankfulness  every  trial  that  compels  us  to  use  our 
wings,  for  only  so  they  can  grow  strong  and  large 


246 


SECRET  OP  A  HAPPY  LIFE. 


and  fit  for  the  highest  flying.  Unused  wings  grad¬ 
ually  wither  and  shrink,  and  lose  their  flying  power; 
and  if  we  had  nothing  in  our  lives  that  made  flying  nec¬ 
essary,  we  might  perhaps  at  last  lose  all  capacity  to  fly. 

But  you  may  ask,  Are  there  no  hindrances  to  flying, 
even  where  the  wings  are  stn  ng,  and  the  soul  is  try¬ 
ing  hard  to  use  them  ?  I  answer,  Yes.  A  bird  may  be 
imprisoned  in  a  cage,  or  it  may  be  tethered  to  the 
ground  with  a  cord,  or  it  may  be  loaded  with  a  weight 
that  drags  it  down,  or  it  may  be  entrapped  in  the 
“snare  of  the  fowler;  ”  and  hindrances  which  answer 
to  all  these  in  the  spiritual  realm,  may  make  it  impos¬ 
sible  for  the  soul  to  fly,  until  it  has  been  set  free  from 
them  by  the  mighty  power  of  God. 

One  “snare  of  the  fowler”  that  entraps  many  souls 
is  the  snare  of  doubt.  The  doubts  look  so  plausible 
and  often  so  humble,  that  Christians  walk  into  their 
“  snare,”  without  dreaming  for  a  moment  that  it  is  a 
snare  at  all,  until  they  find  themselves  caught  and 
unable  to  fly  ;  for  there  is  no  more  possibility  of  flying 
for  the  soul  that  doubts,  than  there  is  for  the  bird 

• 

caught  in  the  fowler’s  snare. 

The  reason  of  this  is  evident.  One  of  our  wings, 
namely,  the  wing  of  trust,  is  entirely  disabled  by  the 
slightest  doubt;  and  just  as  it  requires  two  wings  to 
lift  a  bird  in  the  air,  so  does  it  require  two  wings  to 
lift  the  soul.  A  great  many  people  do  everything  but 
trust.  They  spread  the  wing  of  surrender,  and  use 
it  vigorously,  and  wonder  why  it  is  that  they  do  not 
mount  up,  never  dreaming  that  it  is  because  all  the 
while  the  wing  of  trust  is  hanging  idle  by  their  sides. 
It  is  because  Christians  use  one  wing  only,  that  their 
efforts  to  fly  are  often  so  irregular  and  fruitless. 


THE  LIFE  ON  WINGS. 


247 


Look  at  a  bird  with  a  broken  wing  trying  to  fly,  and 
yon  will  get  some  idea  of  the  kind  of  motion  all  one¬ 
sided  flying  must  make.  We  must  use  both  our 
wings,  or  not  try  to  fly  at  all. 

It  may  be  that  for  some  the  “snare  of  the  fowler’’ 
is  some  subtle  form  of  sin,  some  hidden  want  of  conse¬ 
cration.  Where  this  is  the  case,  the  wing  of  trust  may 
seem  to  be  all  right,  but  the  wing  of  surrender  hangs 
idly  down;  and  it  is  just  as  hopeless  to  try  to  fly  with 
the  wing  of  trust  alone,  as  with  the  wing  of  surrender 
alone.  Both  wings  must  be  used,  or  no  flying  is 
possible. 

Or  perhaps  the  soul  may  feel  as  if  it  were  in  a 
prison  from  which  it  cannot  escape,  and  consequently 
is  debarred  from  mounting  up  on  wings.  No  earthly 
bars  can  ever  imprison  the  soul.  No  walls  however 
high,  or  bolts  however  strong,  can  imprison  an  eagle, 
so  long  as  there  is  an  open  way  upward  ;  and  earth’s 
power  can  never  hold  the  soul  in  prison,  while  the 
upward  way  is  kept  open  and  free.  Our  enemies  may 
build  walls  around  us  as  high  as  they  please,  but  they 
cannot  bu;td  any  barrier  between  us  and  God ;  and  if 
we  “mount  up  with  wings,’’  we  can  fly  higher  than 
any  of  their  walls  can  ever  reach. 

If  we  find  ourselves  imprisoned,  then,  we  may  be 
sure  of  this,  that  it  is  not  our  earthly  environment 
that  constitutes  our  prison-house,  for  the  soul’s  wings 
scorn  all  paltry  bars  and  walls  of  earth’s  making. 
The  only  thing  that  can  really  imprison  the  soul  is 
something  that  hinders  its  upward  flight.  The 
Prophet  tells  us  that  it  is  our  iniquities  that  have 
separated  between  us  and  our  God,  and  our  sins  that 
have  hid  His  face  from  us.  Therefore,  if  our  soul  is 


248 


SECRET  OF  A  HAPPY  LIFE. 


imprisoned,  it  must  be  because  some  indulged  sin 
has  built  a  barrier  between  us  and  the  Lord,  and  we 
cannot  fly  until  this  sin  is  given  up  and  put  out  of 
the  way. 

But  often,  where  there  is  no  conscious  sin  the  soul 
is  still  unconsciosly  tethered  to  something  of  earth, 
and  so  struggles  in  vain  to  fly.  A  party  of  my  friends 
once  got  into  a  boat  in  Norway  to  row  around  one  of 
the  fiords  there.  They  took  their  seats  and  began  to 
row  vigorously,  but  theboatmadeno  headway.  They 
put  out  more  strength  and  rowed  harder  than  before, 
but  all  in  vain ;  not  an  inch  did  the  boat  move.  Then 
one  of  the  party  suddenly  recollected  that  the  boat 
had  not  been  unmoored,  and  he  exclaimed,  “No 
wonder  we  could  not  get  away,  when  we  were  trying 
to  pull  the  whole  continent  of  Europe  after  us!” 
And  just  so  our  souls  are  often  not  unmoored  from 
earthly  things.  We  must  cut  ourselves  loose.  As 
well  might  an  eagle  try  to  fly  with  a  hundred-ton 
weight  tied  fast  to  its  feet,  as  the  soul  try  to  “mount 
up  with  wings”  while  a  weight  of  earthly  cares  and 
anxieties  is  holding  it  down  to  earth. 

When  our  Lord  was  trying  to  teach  His  disciples 
concerning  this  danger,  He  told  them  a  parable  of 
a  great  supper  to  which  many  who  were  invited 
failed  to  come,  because  they  were  hindered  by  their 
earthly  cares.  One  had  bought  a  piece  of  ground, 
another  a  yoke  of  oxen,  and  a  third  had  married 
a  wife;  and  they  felt  that  all  these  things  needed 
their  care. 

Wives,  or  oxen,  or  land,  or  even  very  much  smaller 
things,  may  be  the  cords  that  tether  the  soul  from 
flying,  or  the  weights  that  hold  it  down.  Let  us  then 


THE  LIFE  ON  WINGS. 


249 


cut  every  ccrd,  and  remove  every  barrier,  that  on 
souls  may  find  no  hindrance  to  their  mounting  up  with 
wings  as  eagles  to  heavenly  places  in  Christ  Jesus. 

We  are  commanded  to  have  our  hearts  filled  with 
song  of  rejoicing  and  to  make  inward  melody  to  the 
Lord.  But  unless  we  mount  up  with  wings  this  is 
impossible,  for  the  only  creature  that  can  sing  is 
the  creature  that  flies.  When  the  Prophet  declared 
that  though  all  the  world  should  be  desolate,  yet 
he  would  rejoice  in  God  and  joy  in  the  God  of  his 
salvation,  his  soul  was  surely  on  wings.  Paul  knew* 
what  it  was  to  use  his  wings  when  he  found  him¬ 
self  to  be  “  sorrowful,  yet  always  rejoicing.  ”  On  the 
earthly  plane  all  was  dark  to  both  Paul  and  the 
Prophet,  but  on  the  heavenly  plane  all  was  brightest 
sunshine. 

Do  you  know  anything  of  this  life  on  wings,  dear 
reader?  Do  you  “mount  up”  continually'  to  God, 
out  of  and  above  earth’s  cares  and  trials,  to  that 
higher  plane  of  life  where  all  is  peace  and  triumph;  or 
do  you  plod  wearily  along  on  foot  through  the  midst  of 
your  trials,  and  let  them  overwhelm  you  at  every  turn? 

Let  us,  however,  guard  against  a  mistake  here. 
Do  not  think  that  by  flying  I  mean  necessarily  any 
very  joyous  emotions  or  feelings  of  exhilaration. 
There  is  a  great  deal  of  emotional  flying  that  is  not 
real  flying  at  all.  It  is  such  flying  as  a  feather  ac¬ 
complishes  which  is  driven  upward  by  a  strong  puff 
of  wind,  but  flutters  down  again  as  soon  as  the  wind 
ceases  to  blow.  The  flying  I  mean  is  a  matter  of 
principle ,  not  a  matter  of  emotion.  It  may  be  accom¬ 
panied  by  very  joyous  emotions,  but  it  does  not  de¬ 
pend  on  them.  It  depends  only  upon  the  facts  of 


250 


SECRET  OF  A  HAPPY  LIFE. 


an  entire  surrender  and  an  absolute  trust.  Every  one 
who  will  honestly  use  these  two  wings,  and  will  faith¬ 
fully  persist  in  using  them,  will  find  that  they  have 
mounted  up  with  wings  as  an  eagle,  no  matter  how 
empty  of  all  emotion  they  may  have  felt  themselves 
to  be  before. 

For  the  promise  is  sure:  ‘  ‘They  that  wait  upon  the 
Lord  shall  mount  up  with  wings  as  eagles/’  Not 
“may  perhaps  mount  up,’’  but  “shall.’’  It  is  the 
inevitable  result.  May  we  each  one  prove  it  for 
ourselves! 

“  The  lark  soars  singing  from  its  nest, 

And  tells  aloud 

His  trust  in  God,  and  so  is  blest 
Let  come  what  cloud. 

“He  has  no  store,  he  sows  no  seed, 

Yet  sings  aloud,  and  doth  not  heed. 

Through  cloudy  day  or  scanty  feed, 

He  sings  to  shame 
_  Men  who  forget  in  fear  of  need 
A  Father’s  name. 

“The  heart  that  trusts,  forever  sings, 

And  feels  as  light  as  it  has  wings; 

A  well  of  peace  within  it  springs. 

Come  good  or  ill, 

Whate’er  to-day  or  morrow  bring, 

It  is  His  will.” 


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